Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Maltese Laws

Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act (Cap. 241) Consolidated

EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY (COMPULSORY INSURANCE) [ CAP. 241. 1

CHAPTER 241

EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY

(COMPULSORY INSURANCE) ACT

To require employers to insure against their liability for personal injury to their employees and to provide for matters connected therewith.

( ) *

ACT XVI of 1974, as amended by Act XIII of 1983 and Legal Notice 411 of 2007.

1. (1) The short title of this Act is the Employers’ Liability

(Compulsory Insurance) Act.
(2) The following provisions of this Act shall come into force for any purpose on such date or dates as the Minister responsible for employment may by notice in the Government Gazette appoint, and the purposes for which the said provisions or any of them are to come into force at any time may be defined by reference to the nature of an employer ’s business, or to that of an employee’s work, or in any other way.

Short title and commencement.

2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"approved policy" means a policy of insurance not subject to any conditions or exceptions prohibited for the purposes of this Act by regulations made under this Act;
"authorised insurer" means a person lawfully carrying on in Malta insurance business of any class and authorised by the Minister to act as insurer for the purposes of this Act;
"business" includes a trade or profession, and includes any activity carried on by any person;
"employee" means an individual who has entered into or works under a contract of service or apprenticeship with an employer whether by way of manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, whether such contract is expressed or implied, oral or in writing;
"Malta" has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution of Malta;
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for employment;
"person" includes a body of persons, whether corporate or unincorporate, and "employer" shall be construed accordingly.
(2) Except as otherwise provided by regulations made under this Act, an employer not having a place of business in Malta shall be deemed not to carry on business there.

Interpretation.

3. (1) Except as otherwise provided by this Act, every em pl oye r carry in g on an y bu sin e ss i n Mal t a sh all i n su re, and maintain insurance, under one or more approved policies with an authorised insurer or insurers against liability for bodily injury or

Insurance against liability for employees.

2 CAP. 241.] EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY (COMPULSORY INSURANCE)
disease sustained by his employees, and arising out of and in the course of their employment in Malta in that business, but except in so far as regulations under this Act otherwise provide not including injury or disease suffered or contracted outside Malta.
(2) Regulations made under this Act may provide that the amount for which an employer is required by this Act to insure and mai n tain insur a n c e shall, ei ther g e nerally or in su ch cases or classes of cases as may be prescribed by the regulations, be limited in such manner as may be so prescribed.

Exemptions. 4. (1) This Act shall not require an employer to insure -

(a) in respect of an employee of whom the employer is the husband, wife, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, step-father, step-mother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister, or
(b) except as otherwise provided by regulations under this Act, in respect of employees not ordinarily resident in Malta.
(2) This Act shall not require any insurance to be effected -
(a) by the Government of Malta or the Government of any other country; or
(b) except as otherwise provided by regulations under this Act, by any body corporate established by any enactment; or
(c) in relation to any such cases as may be specified in the regulations, by any employer exempted by regulations made under this Act.

Certificates of insurance. Amended by: XIII. 1983.5;

L.N. 411 of 2007.

5. (1) Provision may be made by regulations made under this Act for securing that certificates of insurance in such form and containing such particulars as may be prescribed by the regulations, are issued by insurers to employers entering into contracts of insurance in accordance with the requirements of this Act and for the surrender in such circumstances as may be so prescribed of certificates so issued.

(2) Where a certificate of insurance is required to be issued to an employer in accordance with regulations under subarticle (1), the employer (subject to any provision made by the regulations as to the surrender of the certificate) shall during the currency of the insurance and such further period (if any) as may be provided by the regulations -
(a) comply with any regulations requiring him to display copies of the certificate of insurance for the information of his employees;
(b) produce the certificate of insurance or a copy thereof on demand to any public officer duly authorised by the Minister for the purposes of this Act and produce or send the certificate or a copy thereof to such other person, at such place and in such circumstances as may

EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY (COMPULSORY INSURANCE) [ CAP. 241. 3

be prescribed by the regulations;
(c) permit the policy of insurance or a copy thereof to be inspected by such persons and in such circumstances as may be so prescribed.
(3) A person who fails to comply with a requirement imposed by or under this article shall be li able, on conv iction, to a fine (mu lta) not exceeding one hundred and si xteen euro and forty- seven cents (116.47).
6. (1) An employer who on any day is not insured in accordance with this Act when required to be so shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine (multa) not exceeding four hundred and sixty-five euro and eighty-seven cents (465.87).
(2) Where an offence under this Act or against any regulations made thereunder is committed by a body of persons, every person who, at the time of commission of the offence, was a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of such body of persons or was purporting to act in such capacity shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to a like penalty as the body of persons unl ess h e proves t h at the offence w a s com m i tted wit hou t h i s knowledge and that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.

Penalty for failure to insure.

Amended by:

XIII. 1983.5;

L.N. 411 of 2007.

7. (1) The Minister may make regulations for any purpose for which regulations are authorised or required to be made by this Act.

(2) Any regulations made under this Act may make different provision for different cases or classes of case, and may contain such i n ci dental and supplementary provi sio n s as appear to t h e Mi ni st er to be necessar y or exp e di en t fo r t h e pu rpo s es o f t h e regulations.
(3) Any power to make regulations conferred by this Act shall include power to amend, revoke or replace those regulations.
(4) Any regulations made under this Act shall be laid before the House of Representatives as soon as practicable after they are made and if, within the period of twenty-eight days after they are so laid before it, the House resolves that the regulations be annulled or amended, the regulations shall thereupon cease to have effect or shall be so am ended, but without prejudice to the validity of an ything previously d one thereunder or to the makin g of n e w regulations.
(5) In reckoning for the purposes of subarticle (4) any such period of twenty-eight days, no account shall be taken of any time duri ng w h ich the Ho use is no t in session or during which it is adjourned for more than seven days.

Regulations.