IL-MONTI (PROCEDURE) REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 269.01

IL-MONTI (PROCEDURE) REGULATIONS

1st April, 1977

LEGAL NOTICE 44 of 1977, as amended by Legal Notices 5 of 1985, 77

of 1990, 90 of 1995, 423 of 2007 and 123 of 2021.

The title of these regulations is the Il-Monti (Procedure)

Regulations.

(Regulation 11)

Repealed by Legal Notice 123 of 2021.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires -

"the Act" means the Monte di Pietà Act;

"cash", for the purposes of these regulations, does mot include

any cheques withdrawn from the Treasury;

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner for Revenue and, to the

extent of any delegation made in accordance with the provisions of

regulation 3, includes any person so delegated;

"pledge" means and includes any article of gold or silver or of

other jewellery delivered to the Commissioner as security for the

advance of money on loan by Il-Monti pursuant to the provisions of

the Act.

The administration of Il-Monti shall be vested in the

Commissioner who may, in writing and subject to such limitations

a s h e m a y t h i n k f i t , d e l e g a t e t o a n y o ff i c e r s e r v i n g i n h i s

department, any of the rights, duties, powers and other functions

conferred or imposed upon him by these regulations in the

administration thereof.

Il-Monti shall open for business on the days and hours as

prescribed by the Commissioner.

No money shall be advanced on loan by Il-Monti to

persons who are under eighteen years of age; nor shall it accept

pledges from, or return them to, such persons.

Any person seeking to obtain a loan from Il-Monti against

the delivery of a pledge, and any person seeking to withdraw a

pledge on repayment of the relative loan, shall furnish to the

Commissioner his full name and address, as well as such other

particulars or documents as may be necessary to establish the

identity of the said person.

(1) Subject to the provisions of regulation 9, Il-Monti shall

not give on loan any amount of less than two euros (2) in any

transaction, nor shall it give on loan any amount in excess of six

hundred euros (600) in any transaction.

(2) Any question regarding what constitutes a transaction for

the purpose of subregulation (1) shall be determined by the

Commissioner in his absolute discretion.

Irrespective of the time elapsing between the day on which

a loan is advanced by Il-Monti and the day on which the loan is

repaid, the minimum amount of interest chargeable shall be that

chargeable for thirty days.

(1) No loan shall be advanced by Il-Monti as will exceed

three-fourths of the value of the gold or silver content of the

relative pledge, plus one half of the value of any diamonds, pearls,

or other precious stones encrusted therein.

(2) Values for the purposes of subregulation (1) shall be

determined by the Commissioner whose decision on the matter

shall be final.

(1) Where any loan advanced by Il-Monti is renewed, a

fresh valuation of the r elative pledge shall be made by the

Commissioner.

(2) No loan shall be renewed unless the interest due up to date

of renewal is first paid.

(1) When the Commissioner receives a pledge from any

person against the advance of a loan, he shall issue to the said

person a ticket in the relative form as prescribed by the

Commissioner.

(2) The ticket shall be surrendered to the Commissioner on

repayment of the loan, and the Commissioner shall then return the

pledge against which the loan was originally advanced. No receipt

shall be released by the Commissioner in respect of loan money so

repaid.

(1) If any person loses the ticket referred to in regulation

11(1), or if such ticket is destroyed or otherwise misplaced, the

owner of the pledge shall file a statement with the Commissioner in

the relative form as prescribed by the Commissioner.

(2) Where the Commissioner is satisfied that any such report

made to him is genuine, he shall cause to be made a note of

sequestration in the relative form as prescribed by the Commissioner.

(3) Pledges which have been sequestered in accordance with

the provisions of this regulation shall not be withdrawn before the

lapse of three years from the date on which the relative loan had

been made.

(4) Withdrawal of pledges which have been sequestered in

accordance with the provisions of this regulation shall only be

effected on the furnishing of security to the Commissioner ’s

satisfaction for the payment of the real value of the pledge.

Security shall also be provided in the case of repayment of any

surplus remaining after the sale of sequestered pledges.

The sale of unredeemed pledges by public auction

(including the sale of pledges which have been sequestered in

accordance with the provisions of regulation 12) shall take place in

such premises and at such time as the Commissioner may fix by

notice published in the Gazette, so however that, between the

publication of the said notice and the holding of the sale, pledges

which are to be offered for sale shall be exhibited to the public on

the premises of Il-Monti.

(1) Tickets and other records regarding loans and pledges

may be destroyed by the Commissioner after the lapse of ten years

from the repayment of the relative loans and the redemption of the

relative pledges, or from the payment of any surplus regarding

pledges sold by public auction.

(2) Tickets and other records relating to surpluses which are

not claimed by owners of sold pledges, may be destroyed on the

lapse of ten years from the date of the sale of the relative pledge.

Except as may be necessary for the purposes of these

regulations, or for the prevention of fraud or theft, or except where

a competent Court otherwise directs, every person having any

official duty or being employed in the administration of these

regulations shall regard and deal with as secret and confidential -

(a) tickets and other documents or records relating to the

functions of Il-Monti;

(b) the delivery to Il-Monti of any pledge pursuant to the

provisions of the Act;

(c) information concerning the above matters or regarding

any loan made by Il-Monti.

Subject to the provisions of these regulations, the financial

matters of Il-Monti shall be managed in the same way as the affairs

of the departments of Government, and they shall be subject to all

laws and regulations made for this purpose and to all administrative

directives issued by the competent authority governing such

matters

Provided that -

(a) the Minister shall by warrant authorise the advance out

of the Treasury Clearance Fund of sufficient capital to

Il-Monti to enable it to carry out its functions under

article 3(3) of the Act and the loan assets referred to in

subarticle (1) of the said article shall be deemed to

have been so advanced on the date of commencement

of these regulations;

(b) monies received on the redemption or sale of pledges

shall be kept by the Commissioner for the day-to-day

business of Il-Monti, so however that -

(i)

the amount of cash kept on the premises of Il-

Monti shall not exceed twelve thousand euros

(12,000) at the end of any day,

(ii) interest received during any one month shall be

passed to Revenue, and

(iii) the total amount of any surpluses referred to in

paragraph (c) which are repaid during any month

shall be debited to the deposit account

mentioned in the said paragraph;

(c) the Accountant General shall operate a deposit account

into which shall he paid all surpluses referred to in

article 4(2) and article 5(1) of the Act pending either

their recovery by the owners of the sold pledges, or the

lapse of the period mentioned in the said subarticles,

when they shall be passed to Revenue.

If any person -

(a) gives any false information for the purposes of

regulation 6; or

(b) falsely reports that he has lost a ticket regarding any

pledge or that such ticket has been destroyed or

otherwise misplaced,

such person shall be guilty of an offence and shall, without

prejudice to any heavier punishment under any other law, be liable

on conviction to a fine (multa) of not less than fifty-eight euros

(58) and not exceeding two hundred and thirty euros (230) for each

such offence.