Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said today that the governemnt was still waiting for the Opposition to nominate members to a committee which will draw up regulations to define pornography and obscenity in terms of the law.
The Labour Party announced its nominees shortly after the minister's statement.
In his statement, the minister explained that in terms of the law, the committee was to be presided by the Minister of Justice and composed of two government MPs and two MPs from the Opposition.
Last January the government nominated Beppe Fenech Adami and Francis Zammit Dimech as members and Charlo' Bonnici and Edwin Vassallo as substitute members.
The committee would start meeting once the Opposition makes its nominations, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.
Last January, Labour MP Owen Bonnici had criticised the government for not activating the committee.
He pointed out that the only time that regulations defining obscenities had been published in Malta was on July 15, 1975. Since then, there had been a whole series of judgments by the European Court of Human Rights defining what constituted pornography, even within the context of freedom of expression and artistic freedom.
PL NAMES ITS NOMINEES
The Labour Party said it had not been consulted by the government on the setting up of the committee.
It said its members on the committee would be Evarist Bartolo and Owen Bonnici.
The substitute members would be Helena Dalli and Lucioano Busuttil.
The PL said that on January 21 the government accepted the opposition's call to form the committee. According to the law, the Prime Minister was to have consulted the Leader of the Opposition on the appointment of the committee, but this consultation never took place.
The PL said it hoped the government would not further delay the work of this committee.
GOVERNEMNT REACTION
The government said the Opposition had admitted that it announced its nominees three months after being invited to do so.
It pointed out that the government and the opposition had already agreed on the committee.
The opposition’s claim that it had not been consulted was simply an excuse by the opposition to hide its own failure.