Trading Licences (Amendment) Regulations, 2017

L.N. 177 of 2017

TRADING LICENCES ACT

(CAP. 441)

Trading Licences (Amendment) Regulations, 2017

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 17 of the

Trading Licences Act, the Minister responsible for the Economy,

Investment and Small Business, has made the following regulations:-

The title of these regulations is the Trading Licences

(Amendment) Regulations, 2017 and these regulations shall be read

and construed as one with the Trading Licences Regulations,

hereinafter referred to as "the principal regulations".

In sub-regulation (1) of regulation 14 of the principal

regulations, the word "annually" shall be substituted by the words "as

provided in regulation 46".

In sub-regulation (3) of regulation 15 of the principal

regulations, for the words "as is referred to in sub-regulation (1)."

there shall be substituted the words "as is referred to in sub-regulation

(1):" and immediately after, there shall be added the following new

proviso

"Provided that nothing in these regulations or in any

licence shall be interpreted as authorising any person to

continue to exercise a commercial activity at a place where such

commercial activity may no longer be exercised according to

law.".

Regulation 33 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following

" Commercial fair

(1)

No person shall organise or allow to

including sale by

be organised from a premises, a commercial fair or a

retail.

commercial exhibition, of goods or services, which

could be sold to the public at the location of the

commercial fair or commercial exhibition or from

another location, unless

(a)

a commercial fair authorisation or

as a commercial exhibition authorisation as the

case may be, has been issued specifically for

such an activity from the Trade Licensing Unit;

and

(b)

the premises where the commercial

fair or commercial exhibition is to be organised

has a permit, from the authority responsible for

planning, building and development, which

allows the sale by retail or the hosting of fairs or

exhibitions.

(2) In order to secure a commercial fair or

commercial exhibition authorisation a person must

submit at least ten days prior to the proposed event a

notification on the appropriate form which must

include the following information

(a)

the name, address and ID document

number, or any other means of identification, of

the person organising the fair or exhibition;

(b)

the name and the address of where

the fair or exhibition will be held;

(c)

the

name

of

each

person

participating in the fair or exhibition and type of

products to be sold;

(d)

the VAT number of each person

participating in the fair or exhibition; and

(e)

date or dates when fair or exhibition

is going to be held.

Provided that the notification must be

accompanied by the permit referred to in sub-

regulation (1)(b) or an official document indicating

that the authority responsible for planning, building

and development has no objection to the fair in

question

Provided further that the Trade Licensing

Unit may request any additional document and

information as reasonably and objectively justified.

(3) A person who completes the notification

procedure as required shall, for the purposes of this

regulation, be deemed to be authorised to organise the

relevant commercial fair or commercial exhibition as

applied for unless the Trading Licence Unit does not

within five days

(a)

send a request to the applicant to

supply

any

additional

information

or

documentation;

(b)

issue an authorisation subject to

any conditions it may deem fit; or

(c)

refuse the authorisation giving its

reasons for such refusal

Provided that if the Trading Licence Unit

sends a request for additional information or

documentation, the issue or refusal of the authorisation

shall be made within five days from the provision of

the additional information or documents.

(4) The period of five days mentioned in sub-

regulation (3) may in exceptional circumstances, prior

to its expiry, be extended by the Trade Licensing Unit

for one period of not more than ten (10) working days.

Such extension and the reasons therefore shall be

notified to the applicant without delay.

(5) A notification form shall not be deemed to

be complete unless the Trading Licences Unit is in

receipt of all the information or documentation

required. If an applicant fails to produce the requested

information and or documentation within twenty (20)

working days from the date of the request by the

Trading Licences Unit, then such notification shall be

deemed to be null

Provided that if within these twenty (20)

working days the organiser of the commercial fair or

commercial exhibition requires an extension for the

provision of any said documentation the Trading

Licence Unit may, if it considers that there are

justifiable reasons, extend the period by a further

twenty (20) working days.

(6) The Trading licence Unit may refuse to

issue an authorisation for reasons of public policy,

public safety, public security, public health, the

protection of the environment, safeguarding national

heritage, town and country planning and safeguarding

national or local projects.

(7) The acknowledgment of the receipt by the

Trading Licences Unit of the notification shall serve as

proof of such notification.

(8) An authorisation for a commercial fair or

commercial exhibition issued by the Trade Licensing

Unit shall be valid for seven (7) consecutive days

including Sundays and Public Holidays except Good

Friday.

(9) Authorisations may be issued consecutively

for the same commercial fair or commercial exhibition

from the same location, however, such extension shall

not result in the fair or exhibition exceeding thirty (30)

days

Provided that there should not be more than

four commercial fairs or commercial exhibitions of the

same product in one calendar year.".

5. Regulation 46 of the principal regulations shall be Substitutes

regulation 46 of

substituted by the following

the principal

regulations.

(1)

The following fees shall be payable

to the Trade Licensing Unit, with the application and

shall be paid every three years thereafter, for any

person to exercise any of the following commercial

activities

(a)

to act as a street hawker using a

motor vehicle or any other means of transport

forty euro (€40);

(b)

to act as a street hawker selling

bread using any means of transport: twenty euro

(€20);

(c)

to act as a street hawker selling fruit

and, or vegetables or fish using any means of

transport: thirty euro (€30);

(d)

to act as a street hawker selling

traditional Maltese nougat (qubbajt): forty euro

(€40);

(e)

to act as a market hawker forty euro

(€40);

(f)

to act as a market hawker from a

fixed site in the open air market in Valletta or

Marsaxlokk (daily open-air market except

Sunday) or Victoria, Gozo: sixty euro (€60);

(g)

to act as a marketing agent forty

euro (€40) per every vehicle licensed

Provided that these fees shall not apply in

those cases where the fees being paid are lower

Provided further that these fees shall

nonetheless apply in those cases where the licence is

transferred to another owner.

(2) The following fees shall be payable to the

Trade Licensing Unit, for any person to exercise any

of the following commercial activities

(a)

to act as a busker: ninety euro (€90)

per annum irrespective of duration;

(b)

to act as an auctioneer: fee of two

hundred euro (€200) per annum in respect of the

consideration by the Auctioneers Board on

submitting the application and forty euro (€40)

per annum thereafter if a licence is granted; and

(c)

for the organisation of every car

boot sale: forty euro (€40) per event.".

6. Regulation 47 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following

A licence as a market hawker from the

open-air market in Valletta, Marsaxlokk (daily open-

air market except Sunday), the open-air market in

Victoria Gozo and a licence in relation to any fixed

kiosk, may be transferred to any other person on the

payment of a fee of one thousand euro (€1000) to the

relevant authority

Provided that such fee shall not be due

when the transfer is made in favour of a partner, or any

person in the direct descending line, including adopted

children, through an inter vivos or causa mortis

transmission, on proof of the family relationship to the

existing licence holder.".

€0.54