A commission whose remit is to revise and consolidate the laws of Malta has not met for more than a year, as the Justice Ministry has yet to replace two members who have dropped out.

Chaired by former MP Franco Debono, the Law Commission was inactive for a number of years but was reconstituted in 2014 under the Statute Law Revision Act of 1980.

Retired judge Philip Sciberras, Dean of the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta Kevin Aquilina, legal historian Ray Mangion and lawyer Ramona Frendo were the four members nominated by the government. Dr Frendo resigned in March last year.

However, legal sources who spoke to this newspaper said that the initial enthusiasm for the daunting task of making the first revision of the laws of Malta in more than 30 years fizzled out after a few months, such that no further meetings were held.

Contacted by the Times of Malta, Dr Debono insisted that he was still performing his duties, but acknowledged that the commission had been inactive since late 2015, thus slowing down the intended reforms.

I even offered to renounce my allowance for the members, to solve the issue regarding remuneration

The Law Commissioner noted that Prof. Mangion had stopped attending meetings on the minister’s instructions, while Prof. Aquilina had declined to renew his one-year contract. Moreover, there had been issues over the commission members’ level of remuneration, as well as complaints on delayed payments, Dr Debono added.

While confirming that he had made several requests to reconstitute the commission, Dr Debono declined to comment further and referred this newspaper to the justice ministry.

In her reply, a ministry spokeswoman listed some of the initiatives taken by the commission, but no date was given for when the new members would be reappointed. Similarly, the reason behind the removal of Prof. Mangion from the commission was not divulged.

The ministry said that the Law Commissioner had been afforded the assistance of a specialised team of experts, referred to as the Justice Unit, in the performance of his functions and duties.

Thanks to this set-up, two Acts and 21 legal notices were drafted from scratch as part of two separate Repeals Day exercises to remove obsolete laws, the spokeswoman said.

Apart from this, the Law Commissioner, assisted by the Justice Unit, promulgated 34 amendments during this legislature and submitted ad hoc legal proposals for the consideration of the Ministry of Justice, she added.

In his comments, Dr Debono expressed his disappointment that the work on the first revision of the laws of Malta since 1984 had stalled.

“I even offered to renounce my allowance and to give it to the commission members in order to solve the issue regarding remuneration, but to no avail,” he said.

“Nevertheless, I have presented the ministry a streamlined drugs law, which incorporates three separate laws in one, as well as a consolidated electoral law,” the law commissioner said.

“Moreover, a few weeks ago I requested the ministry’s support and resources to have an online database of all previous versions of existing laws, but have received no feedback yet.”

Dr Debono also expressed his disappointment that the commission did not have its own premises nor any clerical staff assigned to it.  He also pointed out that he had renounced a chauffeur almost two years before and had never claimed his car allowance.