An electronic tab on land

All the members of the Permanent Committee on Cadastre of the European Union, including Malta, have agreed to formally adopt a set of common principles on the subject at a congress just held in Rome.

The unanimous agreement struck on this important framework document, that should serve as a road map for all PCC members, was secured after months of intensive discussions and negotiations. It marks the attainment of a critical milestone in the development of international cooperation among all EU national institutions responsible for cadastre and/or land registration.

Considering the diversity and complexity of the various systems and operations presently in force within the EU's member states, such as the Anglo-Saxon model used in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Rome agreement is considered, as rightly stated by the Italian presidency, "a historical development in this particular area".

The common principles are based on the underlying agreement that the information contained in both the cadastre as well as in the land register, as in the case of Malta, promotes a peaceful and secure usage of land tenure, thus protecting and facilitating the real estate market and investments within the EU countries, obviously within the framework of existing national rules and regulations. Thus, member states' administrations responsible for land management are now formally committed to develop and "enable cooperation and coordination procedures in order to maintain and keep the cadastre and/or land registers in use continuously updated". Obviously, eventual sharing of information, both with the citizens of one's country as well as with citizens and institutions from other EU countries, can only be undertaken within the parameters of the national data protection legislation in force.

Various presentations made during the congress confirmed that national governments are becoming more and more aware that an efficient land administration system, of which land registration is a crucial but by no means sole component, is of fundamental importance as it directly relates to a major economic and social asset of a country, namely land and property. It also offers opportunities for anchoring other economic and social processes to parcels and addresses. Indeed, the benefits of land administration systems touch upon many parts of society and, undoubtedly, can be said to be of direct influence to the sustainable development in various areas of the economy. To quote just one example, countries require reliable and updated land data and information so that agricultural and environmental policies and practices could be developed in such a way that the developing needs of its citizens are met. This obviously necessitates an ongoing coordination and cooperation strategy between all involved players.

In the case of Malta, the major keyholders are the Land and Public Registry Division (entrusted with the role of facilitator of land-related information), the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (falling under the aegis of the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment) and the Government Property Division.

To summarise, the main benefits from having a sound and efficient land administration strategy arise in the form of:

¤ physical town and urban planning;

¤ development control environmental management;

¤ implementation of rural development policies and strategies;

¤ legal certainty of ownership;

¤ provision of access to land and property ownership to disadvantaged groups;

¤ credit security and access to credit;

¤ housing and land market analysis;

¤ emergency planning and management and

¤ asset management.

This has induced various governments to invest more and more resources, with special emphasis on state-of-the-art information technology systems, in this particular area. In fact, most land registration systems, including the local one, are today being structured upon computer-based platforms using continuously updated GIS technologies (geographic information systems).

Throughout the congress in Rome, participants were given the opportunity to view online the land registration system presently in use in Italy. Indeed, it is evident that through the joint efforts of the responsible authorities, namely the Agenzia del Territorio (a non-profit public body acting under the supervision of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance and presently having more than 12,000 employees on its books) and its IT partner SOGEI (Società Generale d'Informatica SPA), the counterpart of the local MITTS, the Italian authorities have managed to develop an impressive land registration system for the whole of the Italian territory. Following these achievements, the main goals are now the setting-up of a digital signature system and the web transmission of the updating documents in order to completely eliminate paper documents and to create an efficient web data exchange. A far cry from the agrimensores used during Roman times more than 2,000 years ago!

Coming back to the local situation, it is evident that considerable progress has indeed been registered in this area - even though, particularly in view of work processes as well as culture changes, there is still a long way to go! Considering that the Land Registration Act (Chapter 296 of the Laws of Malta) was brought into force barely two decades ago, we have today in place a computerised system, installed in 1995, that was created for the specific use of the Land Registry. This enables the relatively small department to provide, in a matter of minutes (as committed through its quality service charter) all the information one may need to obtain on a particular property, provided that the property is registered.

The certificate issued by the registry includes the name of the owner, a description of the property and encumbrances, servitudes and other rights any debts that may burden that property and, naturally, a digitised plan of the property. This latter feature is a significantly important development.

The following three factors have contributed in no small measure to this success story:

¤ Both in 1982, when the law was passed for the first time, as well as in 1995, when very important amendments were made, the government and the opposition agreed that this process is vital to the country, particularly in view of the reasons given above.

¤ As far as possible, major initiatives and changes undertaken at the Land Registry were taken only after formal consultation with the respective chambers and bodies representing the department's main clients, namely notaries, lawyers, architects and legal procurators.

¤ The effective implementation of a well-planned change management strategy, that may indeed be considered as a primary example of best practice within the public service, based on a clear vision and mission. This involved also the participation of the private sector, particularly in the development of a purposely designed land registry certification system.

The future promises to be a most challenging one for the Land Registry management and staff particularly in view of the planned Central Registry Act that was published as a Bill last October. This new legislation, drafted after years of extensive consultations with the major players involved, is expected to radically alter present work processes at both the land as well as the public registry. Its primary objective is that of amalgamating the two registers into one, thereby rationalising the use of human and financial resources mainly through the elimination of duplication of work at the two registries. It also facilitates the eventual removal of all issues militating against certainty of ownership. In this regard, the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs has recently commissioned the Management Efficiency Unit to carry out an operations review in order to assist the Land and Public Registry Division's management to meet these new challenges. Thus, for example, the whole area of Malta and Gozo is expected to eventually become a compulsory registration area (as against the present one-sixth of Malta and Gozo).

Notwithstanding the additional workload and responsibilities, management feels highly confident that, particularly through the availability of a well-trained and flexible workforce as well as the continued development of a robust and efficient IT GIS-based land registration programme, the government will be able to implement the necessary changes with the ultimate objective of offering an enhanced service delivery to all the division's clients - a service that compares favourably to that given in the other EU member states. The fact that these changes are viewed as an opportunity, rather than as a threat, is definitely a step in the right direction.

Mr Deguara is director general, Land and Public Registry Division.