The Collective Proceedings Bill was a good thing for Malta, Nationalist MP Francis Zammit Dimech told Parliament, adding that the PN in government was sensitive and heard what people had to say. It was proud to protect those in need through the present Bill and other pieces of legislation.
Parliament acknowledged the importance of giving the people their rights
Speaking during the debate on the Bill in second reading, Dr Zammit Dimech said the government also took into account families and small businesses who were also consumers. One could not speak of consumers if not in the context of the family.
The Bill would introduce the right to institute class actions, giving more strength to the consumer. The EU was also requiring the concept of collective proceedings to be introduced in national legislations.
This would also give rights to cable TV subscribers with respect to conditions regulating football matches.
Speaking on Acta, Dr Zammit Dimech said the House Foreign Affairs Committee had unanimously agreed to suspend discussions until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided whether any provisions were against the European Convention on Human Rights. The government did not want to have anything to do with something that would violate human rights.
It was the PN in government that made the digital revolution in Malta and thus it was natural for it to protect existing rights.
Dr Zammit Dimech said that class actions would still be accepted in court if the class members’ claims varied in form and amount. Moreover, individual evaluation of each class member was not required for the action to succeed. Similarly, a class action would not be refused if the claims arise from different contracts made by the individual class members. One had to acknowledge that the government was proposing radical legal concepts to the judicial system. The Bill introduced various new concepts. New methods for dispute resolution were being proposed. In fact class actions at European level could also be found in anti-trust legislation and this would also apply in Malta when the Bill is enacted.
Silvio Parnis (PL) also agreed that this was a positive Bill since it showed that Parliament acknowledged the importance of giving the people their rights. The Bill affected both consumers and enterprises.
Mr Parnis hit out at employers who denied good work conditions and dignity to their workforce, saying that union strength had been eroded. Unions, he said, were very important in a democracy.
He hoped that bureaucracy would be avoided once the Bill became law because it did not make sense to create problems before a system was even functioning. He hoped that the Bill would benefit consumers not only on paper but also in practice.