Call for greater synergy between law commission and House committee

The chairman of the standing committee on the codification of laws, Franco Debono, called for greater synergy between the law commission and his committee to achieve the best legislation possible.

Dr Debono was speaking during a committee meeting which discussed a number of principles which guided administrative law. He said that Minister for Justice Chris Said had contacted him about the matter last week, adding that he had not received any reply on the matter from former Minister of Justice Carm Mifsud Bonnici.

Minister Said, who was present for the meeting, said he had also called on the law commission on the matter and was open to suggestions on how this synergy could be achieved.

Dr Debono also announced that three cameras had been installed and the committee’s meeting would be video streamed live in the near future, bringing Parliament closer to the people. He augured that this system would also be implemented for the plenary debates. He said he had written to the Prime Minister on this matter early last year. The Prime Minister had then written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives leading to this development.

The Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University, Professor Kevin Aquilina, explained the principles guiding administrative law as taken from the principles of good administrative behaviour which applied to European institutions.

One of these principles applied to the duty of administrative authorities to state the grounds for taking certain decisions which would become mandatory as at present it did not apply to all of them under the code of civil procedure. Dr Debono said this would also lead to uniformity.

Another principle applied to collective action against government entities on any matter and not just on consumer affairs and competition as is restricted today.

Minister Said clarified that it was the government’s intention to extend the class action legislation to other spheres after a consolidation period for the new law.

Professor Aquilina remarked that the new code would establish principles on uniformity in imposing administrative sanctions as at present there was a lot of disparity in fines implemented by different government entities. Administrative fines amounting to thousands of euros were imposed by criminal courts in the EU but this was not the case in Malta.

The code also aimed at consolidating the administrative court eliminating a number of tribunals while increasing guarantees. Some 20 tribunals had been eliminated.

Dr Debono remarked that he had – for a long time – been critical of the practice of the system applied by the courts setting up these tribunals and inquiries making use of retired magistrates and judges.

The committee also discussed the principle of delegated legislation accepting the proposal by Professor Aquilina for setting up a parliamentary committee to scrutinise legal notices.

Minister Said said the committee entrusted with examining subsidiary legislation relating to the divorce law had finalised its report and the necessary legislation would be in place before the end of June deadline.

At the start of yesterday’s plenary session, Dr Debono laid on the Table of the House a draft Bill to give effect to a motion moved by Labour MP Justyne Caruana on judicial proceedings in Gozo. The motion approved by the House last December.

The draft Bill provides for the abolition of the Court of Magistrates (Gozo) sitting in its superior jurisdiction.

The jurisdiction of the Civil Court, First Hall, the Civil Court (Family Section) and the Civil Court (Voluntary Jurisdiction Section) is being extended to Gozo and Comino.

The Court of Appeal, sitting in its superior jurisdiction, is being empowered to hold its sittings in Gozo in order to hear appeals lodged from decisions of the Civil Court, First Hall, and the Civil Court (Familty Section) when both the latter two sections of the Civil Court hold their sittings in Gozo.

The Court of Magistrates is established as one court with general jurisdiction over all islands in Malta and continuing to hold sittings both in the Island of Malta and in the Island of Gozo.

The Bill facilitates the transfer of cases between courts and tribunals, whether on the same island or otherwise, and the transfer of judicial acts, written pleadings and other documents between the courts and tribunals in Malta to the courts and tribunals in Gozo and vice-versa.