SHOPS FOR THE SALE OF WINE, BEER OR SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS (LICENCES, GOOD ORDER AND PUBLIC DECORUM) REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 10.09

SHOPS FOR THE SALE OF WINE, BEER OR

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS (LICENCES, GOOD ORDER

AND PUBLIC DECORUM) REGULATIONS

18th October, 1929

GOVERNMENT NOTICE 392 of 1929, as amended by Government

Notices: 418 of 1932, 9 and 175 of 1934, 336 of 1935, 191 of 1939, 127 of

1944, 123 of 1946, 62 and 90 of 1948, and 608, 722 and 828 of 1949;

Legal Notices 64 of 1964 and 92 of 1969; Act XIV of 1969; and Legal

Notices 147 of 1993, 31 of 2002, 273 of 2009, 86 of 2011, 31 of 2013 and

185 of 2025; and as adapted by Acts XXVII of 1970 and XXXIII of 1974.

The title of these Regulations is Shops for the Sale of

Wine, Beer or Spirituous Liquors (Licences, Good Order and

Public Decorum) Regulations.

These Regulations shall apply only to shops in which wine,

beer or spirituous liquors are sold to be consumed on the premises,

or are sold in quantities less than one whole bottle.

Licences

Applications for licences for the sale of wine, beer or

spirituous liquors shall be addressed to the Commissioner of

Police.

A licence for the sale of wine, beer or spirituous liquors

may, with the approval of the Prime Minister, be granted to any

person who is of age, provided that -

(a) the application is not open to objection, in the opinion

of the Commissioner of Police, on any of the following

grounds

(i)

the character of the applicant, or of his wife or

her husband;

(ii) the sufficiency of shops, holding similar

licences, to meet the requirements of the public

in the neighbourhood;

(iii) the proximity of the premises in respect of which

a licence is applied for, to be calculated in the

manner to be prescribed by the Commissioner of

Police, to a place of public worship;

(iv) the proximity of such premises, to be calculated

in the manner to be prescribed by the

Commissioner of Police, to other shops licensed

for the sale of non-intoxicants;

(v) the connection of such premises with a dwelling

house;

(b) no objection is raised by the Department of Health on

sanitary grounds;

(c) no objection is raised by neighbours whose premises

are within eighteen metres of the proposed shop.

Licences granted as above shall be renewed annually,

provided that -

(a) the renewal of the licence is not, in the opinion of the

Commissioner of Police, open to objection on any of

the following grounds

(i)

the non-observance on the licensed premises of

any of the regulations respecting licences;

(ii) the conviction of the licensee of any of the

contraventions referred to in articles 184, 185,

188, 189 and 193 of the Code of Police Laws, or

in articles 3, 9, 10, 117, 121, 125 and 128 of the

Food, Drugs and Drinking Water Ordinance * ;

(iii) the character of the licensee, or of his wife or her

husband, during the past twelve months;

(iv) the surrender of the premises for which the

licence was granted;

(v) the fact that the premises have been generally

ill-conducted;

(b) no objection is raised by the Department of Health on

any of the following grounds

(i) neglect of sanitary conditions and precautions;

(ii) sale of adulterated liquors or food unfit for

consumption;

(c) no objection is raised, on grounds which are

considered reasonable by the Prime Minister, by

neighbours whose premises are within eighteen metres

of the shop.

The Commissioner of Police may, if he considers that a

licensee is ill-conducting the premises or if the licensee is

convicted of a serious crime, apply, at any time in the course of the

year for which the licence is valid, for its cancellation. The Police

Licences Advisory Board may recommend that the licence be

cancelled.

(1) All licences under these Regulations shall be personal,

and no such licence shall be transferred except with the permission

of the Commissioner of Police. Any transfer not so authorised shall

entail the forfeiture of the licence.

(2) No application for a total or partial transfer of a licence

shall be granted by the Commissioner of Police, unless he is

satisfied that no objection is raised to the proposed transferee or

partners by neighbours whose premises are within eighteen metres

of the shop, on grounds which are deemed reasonable by the

Commissioner of Police.

(3) Where a licence is applied for by more than one person, it

may be issued in the name of only one of them who, for the

purposes of the law, shall be considered to be the licensed person.

*Repealed by Act XL of 1972 (Chapter 231).

(4) No application for a personal transfer of a licence shall be

considered, pending criminal investigation against the licensee.

Temporary licences for the retail of intoxicating liquors

may be granted by the Commissioner of Police, on the occasion of

festivals, exhibitions, races, or special gatherings of people, on

payment of the appropriate fee prescribed under the Police

Licences Act.

Applications for the transfer of licences from one shop to

another within the same town or village shall be dealt with by the

Commissioner of Police

Provided that, where objection is raised by any neighbour

or if the Commissioner of Police for any special cause which he

considers reasonable so directs, any such application shall be dealt

with in the same manner as an application for the grant of a new

licence.

The Commissioner of Police shall have the power to grant

licences to keepers of bona fide restaurants to serve wine and beer

to customers during meals

Provided that the Commissioner of Police shall have the

power to cancel, at any time in the course of the year, licences

granted under this regulation on the ground of non-observance of

any of the conditions imposed in the licence or if, in his opinion,

the premises are ill-conducted.

No person holding a licence for the sale of wine and beer,

or of either wine or beer, shall have on the premises, in respect of

which the licence is granted, any intoxicating liquor which he is not

licensed to sell.

(1) Save as provided in sub-regulation (2) of this

regulation, the foregoing regulations shall not apply to such shops

as, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police, form part of

premises used bona fide for the purposes of a hotel.

(2) Regulation 11 shall also apply to premises used bona fide

for the purposes of a hotel.

In these Regulations, the expression "neighbours" means

the tenant or occupier, or, when the house is unoccupied, the owner

of the house, or, in the case of a family, the head of the family

residing in the house; and in the case of a library, school, club,

office or institution, the respective representative thereof.

Maintenance of order and public decorum

No person holding a licence under these Regulations shall

permit any person, not regularly employed in the shop, unless such

shop, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police, is used bona

fide for the purposes of a hotel, to remain therein during the hours

in which such shop is closed; nor shall he permit the supply, on

payment or gratuitously, of any article during that time.

No person holding a licence under these Regulations shall

knowingly permit any person belonging to the Armed Forces of

Malta to enter or remain on the licensed premises if the holder of

the licence has been served with an order to this effect by the

Commissioner of Police.

Deleted by Legal Notice 185 of 2025.

Deleted by Legal Notice 185 of 2025.

It shall not be lawful for any person holding a licence

under these Regulations to allow any person under seventeen years

of age to enter or loiter at the entrance of any bar or other premises;

nor shall it be lawful for any such person to enter or loiter at the

entrance of any such bar or premises or to infringe any order given

by any member of the Police Force to quit the neighbourhood

thereof.

Deleted by Legal Notice 185 of 2025.

No person holding a licence shall knowingly employ in his

shop any person to whom a licence has been refused under these

Regulations or who is not of good character.

No person holding a licence shall employ in his shop any

person as his substitute or agent, without the permission in writing

of the Commissioner of Police.

(1) No person holding a licence shall permit in his

premises the playing of musical instruments or the replay of any

music recorded by any means whatsoever, or the amplification of

any such music by any electronic, electrical or other means,

without the permission of the Police.

(2) Such special permission shall not be granted by the Police

if any objection is raised thereto by any neighbour whose premises

are within eighteen metres of the shop in respect of which the

permission is requested, on grounds which are deemed reasonable

by the Director of Public Works, the Commissioner of Police and

the Chief Government Medical Officer, or the officers acting on

their behalf.

No person holding a licence shall permit, either by day or

by night, any singing, or noise in the shop, which may cause

annoyance to neighbours or otherwise disturb them, and he shall

remove from the shop any person who is in a state of drunkenness,

or who by words, gestures, or in any other manner may have shown

an intention to cause a breach of the public peace.

(1) No person holding a licence under these regulations

shall keep any amusement machine or gaming device or permit any

such amusement machine or gaming device to be kept on the

licensed premises, unless the necessary licence or authorisation

required in terms of the Lotteries and Other Games Act * has been

issued or granted.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation the terms "amusement

machine" and "gaming device" shall have the meaning assigned to

them in the Lotteries and Other Games Act † .

No person holding a licence shall suffer any act contrary to

law or morality to be committed in his shop.

No person holding a licence shall make or use any internal

communication, not duly authorised, between any licensed and any

unlicensed premises, or shall make in the licensed premises any

alteration contrary to any instructions given by the Police, or by the

Department of Health.

Every person holding a licence under these Regulations

shall put in a frame and exhibit in a visible place in the shop, a

copy of any licence or permit granted by the Police having

reference to the shop, as well as a printed copy of these

Regulations.

For any infringement of these Regulations or of any laws

or other regulations applicable to wine and spirit shops, the

Commissioner of Police may order such wine and spirit shops to be

closed for a period not exceeding seven days, or, subject to the

concurrence of the Prime Mini st er, f or a lo nger period not

exceeding one month independently of any punishment to which

the offender may become, or may have become, liable according to

law.

*Repealed by Act XVI of 2018.

†Repealed by Act XVI of 2018.