In future, people wishing to use a double-barrelled surname will not have to go to court for a formal change.

Piloting his first Bill, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said amendments were being proposed to various clauses relating to names and surnames in the act constituting the Public Registry. These provide for Maltese citizens to regulate the formulation of their surnames.

The changes also provide for children, whether born in wedlock or not, to take on both the mother’s and the father’s surnames. This would place all children on an equal footing.

Another change relates to births. The Bill proposes that a baby born at sea can be registered in Malta if the vessel is not registered at any port. However, this did not mean the child automatically became a Maltese citizen since that required other legal provisions.

The amendments seek to facilitate the issue of migrant births and the Public Registry will be obliged to accept the registration only under specific rules. Currently, the Public Registry cannot register a birth at sea, in international waters and on an unregistered ship.

The final proposed change is aimed to extend the time frames for registering a birth from 30 working days to an indefinite period until verifications are made.

Nationalist MP Francis Zammit Dimech said the Opposition was fully in favour of the Bill. Giving children of irregular immigrants born during precarious sea voyages on vessels that were not registered anywhere the right to register their birth in Malta gave them the basic dignity that their birth could be registered somewhere.

The changes also provide for those who want to amend their surname, allowing them to do so by completing a form. The existent procedure allowed for this to happen only until the end of 2013. There has been considerable interest in this scheme but some had not made the deadline.

The amendments also included giving the same rights to children born in marriage and those born outside marriage to a known father.