Agricultural Data Collection Regulations, 2026

L.N. 87 of 2026

AGRICULTURE ACT

(CAP. 639)

Agricultural Data Collection Regulations, 2026

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 7 of the

Agriculture Act, the Minister responsible for agriculture and rural

affairs, has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Agricultural Data

Collection Regulations, 2026.

commencement.

(2) The scope of these regulations is to provide for the

collection of data related to agricultural activity and agricultural

holdings, and for the relevant research to be conducted thereupon, for

the purposes of developing and implementing the National

Agricultural Policy and to fulfil the national obligations of the Farm

Sustainability Data Network.

(3) These regulations shall come into force within two (2)

months from their publication in the Gazette.

(1)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires

"Act" means the Agriculture Act;

"agricultural land" means any land on which agricultural

activity takes place;

"Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009" means Council

Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009 of 30 November 2009 setting up

the Farm Sustainability Data Network;

"Regulation (EU) 2016/679" means Regulation (EU) 2016/

679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April

2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the

processing of personal data and on the free movement of such

data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection

Regulation).

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, words and phrases

used in these regulations which are not defined herein shall have the

same meaning as assigned to them in the Act.

(1) For the purposes of developing and implementing Power to collect

the National Agricultural Policy as referred to in article 3(1)(a) of the data.

Act and for the purposes of fulfilling the obligations of Council

Regulation (EC) No 1217/2009, the Director shall have the power to

collect the necessary and relevant data from any natural or legal person

involved in agricultural activity or otherwise related to agricultural

products.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of sub-regulation (1),

the Director shall collect any of the following information

(a) the area of the land where agricultural activity is

taking place;

(b)

the livestock kept within the agricultural holding;

(c) the title, authorisation or other sort of permission by

which the agricultural land is occupied;

(d)

the labour and the workers involved;

(e) all aspects of the production and processing of

agricultural products, including but not limited to the agricultural

holding structure, location, accountancy, employment and

agricultural and processing practices; and

(f) such other information and, or data concerning the

agricultural industry of Malta as the Director may require, which

data are strictly related to the tasks and functions of the Director

in accordance with the Act and the regulations made thereunder.

(3) The Director, or any officer authorised by him, shall issue a

notice in writing ordering any person to provide the data requested for

the purposes of these regulations, within such time and manner as

specified in the notice.

(4) Any person who fails to comply with the requirement of

sub-regulation (3) shall be guilty of an offence in accordance with the

provisions of the Act.

(1) The Agriculture Directorate shall serve as the liaison Liaison agency.

agency for Malta for all the purposes of Council Regulation (EC) No

1217/2009.

(2) The Directorate shall be responsible for fulfilling the

requirements and obligations of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1217/

2009.

(1) These regulations shall not prejudice the applicability

of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act, including

the regulations made thereunder and the fundamental rights and

freedoms of the data subjects.

(2) The Rural Affairs Department acting in its capacity of a

controller in accordance with Article 4(7) of the Regulation (EU)

2016/679, shall perform the relevant data processing operations which

are limited to the extent needed for the purposes of these regulations,

and to what is necessary and proportionate to the objectives pursued by

the Department.

(3) The processing of personal data for the purposes of these

regulations shall fully comply with the principles relating to the

processing of personal data in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation

(EU) 2016/679.

(4) Any personal data collected by the controller in accordance

with these regulations shall only be processed for the purposes of

policy development and research.

(1) The controller, whilst taking into account the nature,

scope, context and purposes of processing as well as the risks of

varying likelihood and severity of the rights and freedoms of the data

subjects, shall implement appropriate technical and organisational

measures, in an effective manner and integrate the necessary

safeguards into the processing, in order to protect the rights of the data

subjects and to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk.

(2) The data protection officer designated by the controller in

accordance with Article 37 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 shall be

involved and duly consulted in a timely manner on all issues in

relation to the protection of personal data processed for the purposes of

these regulations.

(3) For the purpose of ensuring and of being able to

demonstrate that the processing of personal data is performed in

accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the

controller shall implement the appropriate data protection policies,

which policies shall be periodically reviewed and updated where

necessary.

€0.27