One of the officials responsible for the regulation of billboards within Transport Malta said in court today that it was the Planning Authority which was responsible for removing illegal billboards, and he did not know if any enforcement action had been taken.
Luke Genius, a manager at TM, was testifying in a case instituted by the Nationalist Party against the government over new regulations which, it says, restrict its freedom of expression.
Mr Genius said the intention of the Malta Transport Authority when issuing the legal notice was to regulate the posting of billboards around the islands and not to suppress anyone's freedom of expression. The purpose was to curtail illegality which had long prevailed.
Mr Genuis explained that he had worked on the billboards issue under the direction of Architect Testaferrata de Noto from the very inception of the project intended to halt the mushrooming of the illegal structures.
He had personally driven around the islands taking photos so as to take stock of the situation. After consulting the Planning Authority and the relevant law, Transport Malta proposed the new regulation which restricted political billboards until the three months in the run-up to an election. Legal Notice 103 of 2016 also imposed a licence fee of €1,500 equivalent to the cost of renting a billboard for one month.
TWO OPTIONS FOR POLITICAL PARTIES
Mr Genuis explained that before the publication of the writ announcing the General Elections, political parties had two options. They could either obtain a licence to operate billboards against the payment of said fee or else make necessary arrangements with some owner of a billboard to be granted use of such publicity structure.
Under cross-examination, the witness declared that Transport Malta had not taken any action to remove Labour Party billboards which were still illegally displayed around the islands, as remnants of the 2013 election, since the Authority was not tasked with enforcement. This was a function entrusted to the Planning Authority.
Pressed further on the matter, the witness declared that it was not his competence to see to the removal of the illegal structures which persisted long after the 2013 election. Moreover he did not know whether any enforcement action had been taken by the Planning Authority.
Lawyer Jason Azzopardi was counsel to the PN.
Lawyers Chris Cilia and Ian Borg were counsel to Transport Malta and the Planning Authority respectively.
Lawyer Victoria Buttigieg appeared for the Attorney General's Office.