Updated 10.20am

Couples who have entered into civil unions cannot register their union as a marriage because the legal notice bringing into force a law enacted more than three months ago has not been published yet, the Times of Malta has learnt.

As a result, the Public Registry is still devoid of the form needed to be filled in by couples who want to convert their civil unions to civil marriage.

The Equality Ministry confirmed that regulations for the conversion of civil unions to civil marriage have not yet been finalised, barring gay couples who want to register as married from being able to do so.

LGBT couples waiting for their civil union to be recognised as a civil marriage have instead been put on a waiting list and will be informed once the necessary form has been finalised by the Public Registry.

A spokeswoman for the Equality Ministry said the form will be finalised in the coming weeks.

“As happens with any other regulation, the Public Registry will be in a position to implement the provisions of this regulation once it is published on The Government Gazette,” the spokeswoman said.

But the ministry offered no explanation for the three-month setback.

An Identity Malta spokesman also said that regulations - and the form LGBT couples needed to register their marriages - would be in place "in a few weeks' time." 

The Marriage Equality Act was almost unanimously approved in Parliament, making Malta the 15th EU Member State to introduce same-sex marriage. Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo was the only parliamentary member to vote against, calling the Bill “immoral”.

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