The new rules restricting the sale of alcohol from confectionaries incorporated all the proposals made by the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, the Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business, Jason Azzopardi, said.

In a strong-worded letter to GRTU director general Vince Farrugia, Dr Azzopardi said he was “perplexed” the organisation was claiming otherwise. “These regulations incorporate all the GRTU insisted on and proposed during meetings over the last few months,” he wrote.

Minutes of one of the meetings confirmed that the most important factor for the GRTU was that confectionaries did not close at 9 p.m., Dr Azzopardi insisted.

A legal notice issued last week, which the GRTU has objected to, bans the sale of alcohol by such shops after 9 p.m.

The new regulations have attracted mixed reactions with the GRTU saying they led to a commercial advantage of one sector of retailing over another. However, Dr Azzopardi insists the new rules were published as a result of talks with the GRTU, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, Sedqa, the police and the Malta Tourism Authority. Meanwhile, the hotels and restaurants association urged the government to make sure the new regulations were “immediately and appropriately enforced”, particularly in areas of entertainment where the law was being broken in “the most open and defiant manner”.

The association felt it was “imperative” that the government gave a clear message that it meant business.

“The new regulations have essentially only raised the penalties to a level that constitutes a real deterrent to risk takers... the penalty, which was previously a mere pittance at just €116, has increased to €5,000 together with a six-month suspension of the trading license,” the MHRA said.

It said the revised law did not give an advantage to certain sectors but created a real deterrent to eliminate problems experienced particularly in main tourist and entertainment areas.

Malta suffered a lot of bad publicity in the international media, with the island being portrayed as a country that facilitated access to alcohol by minors, particularly in areas of entertainment, it said.