The government is working on four initiatives to speed up commercial court cases but does not intend to set up a formal specialised court in the near future.
Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said that the Finance Ministry was working with his own to draw up amendments to company and commercial law to improve insolvency cases, on the suggestion of economist Alfred Mifsud.
“We are making a number of interesting ad hoc amendments which will make it easier for companies to either be given a chance to recover – or to cease trading and unwind. This is being done with expert input from the Malta Financial Services Authority, at its own expense.
“I expect these to be published within the coming months, perhaps after some targeted consultation,” Dr Bonnici confirmed. “Insolvency has been identified as one of the main challenges for businesses and through these changes we will be able to make a lot of headway.”
The second initiative – which will raise the threshold for the Small Claims Tribunal from €3,494 to €5,000 and that for the Magistrates Court from €11,646.87 to €15,000 – is now at an advanced stage in the parliamentary process and will come into force in a few weeks. The clearance rate of the tribunal has been accelerated so that 23 per cent more cases are being decided than are added to the caseload and only two of three vacancies for tribunal chairmen were filled as the cases are being dealt with so much quicker.
He also explained that 13 full-time court attorneys were appointed recently for civil and commercial cases – as a way to improve case duration.
“In foreign jurisdictions, rather than merely relying on more members of the judiciary, they appoint court attorneys who prepare court judgments and do research for the judge. This means judges are not deterred from accelerating the taking of evidence out of fear of creating a huge pile of judgments to be written.”
The court attorneys earn almost 90 per cent of what a magistrate would (net of allowances), and were chosen by the judiciary to ensure that they were independent of the ministry.
The fourth initiative has wide international implications: London has already set up an international court dedicated to financial services and Malta is looking for ways to also tap into the growing demand.
An international call has been issued seeking a strategic partner for the Arbitration Centre, with considerable interest shown.
“The deadline is in a few weeks but we are very encouraged by the response so far. We could never do this work within our current system. This partnership could put Malta on the map as an alternative to London, not only for financial services but also for shipping. This is an opportunity staring us in the face,” Dr Bonnici admitted.
These initiatives will appease some of the constituted bodies and international firms that repeatedly identify the local courts as being a millstone around the island’s neck – affecting its rankings and reputation for both competitiveness and attractiveness. However, Dr Bonnici said that setting up a formal commercial court was not on the cards for the foreseeable future.
“There is an informal distribution of duties and some magistrates and judges do focus on commercial cases and I can see this expanding. Formalising it would have its ups and down. It would increase specialisation but the downside is that it would create an uneven distribution of caseload between members of the judiciary. I cannot have a member of the judiciary who would only take commercial cases and end up with fewer cases than any other,” he said.
“We cannot afford the luxury of specialisation. Once the backlog has been cleared, then we might be able to consider it.”