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Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 111) Consolidated

CHAPTER 111

PERSONAL INJURIES (EMERGENCY PROVISIONS) ORDINANCE

To make provision as respects certain personal injuries sustained during the period of the present emergency.

(7th August, 1941)*

ORDINANCE IX of 1941, as amended by Ordinances: X and XVII of

1942; Act XVI of 1952; Ordinance XXV of 1962; Legal Notice 46 of 1965; Acts: LVIII of 1974, XLV of 1975, XIII of 1983 and VIII of 1990; and Legal

Notice 409 of 2007.

1. The short title of this Ordinance is the Personal Injuries

(Emergency Provisions) Ordinance.

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

"civil defence organization" means any organization which is declared by a scheme to be a civil defence organization for the purpose of this Ordinance and the scheme;
"civil defence worker", in relation to any injury, means a person certified by a responsible officer of a civil defence organization to have been a member of that organi zati on at th e time when the injury was sustained;
"gainfully occupied person" means a person who is engaged in any trade, business, profession, office, employment or vocation and is wholly or substantially dependent thereon for a livelihood, or a p e rson wh o th oug h t e mpo r ar ily unemplo yed, is n o rmally so engaged and dependent;
"period of the present emergency" means the period beginning on the third day of September, 1939, and ending with such date as the President of Malta may proclaim to be the end of such emergency;
"scheme" means a scheme under this Ordinance; "war injury" means physical injuries -
(a) caused by -
(i) the discharge of any missile (including liquids and gas); or
(ii) the use of any weapon, explosive or other noxious thing; or
(iii) the doing of any other injurious act;
either by the enemy or in combating the enemy or in

Short title.

Interpretation. Amended by: XVI.1952.2;

L.N. 46 of 1965; LVIII. 1974.68.

*See Gov. Not. No. 362 of 7th August, 1941.

This Ordinance, although relating to matters arising out of the Second World War has

bee n included in this R e vised Edition as it is still applicable to a number of

beneficiaries. However, as the Ordinance relates in many instances to events of a

relatively distant past, references to certain statutes have been maintained even though

these have been repealed.

repelling an imagined attack by the enemy or in the implementation of such precautionary or preparatory measures as are indicated in article 2(2)(c) of the War Damage Ordinance, (Ordinance III of 1943)*;
or
(b) caused by the impact on any person or property of any enemy aircraft, or any aircraft belonging to, or held by any person on behalf of or for the benefit of, the British Crown or any power allied to it, or any part of, or anything dropped from, any such aircraft;
"war service injury", in relation to a civil defence worker, means any physical injury which the Committee certifies to have been shown to its satisfaction to have arisen out of and in the course of the performance of his duties as a member of the civil defence organization to which he belonged at the time when the injury was sustained and to have been either a war injury or an injury arising directly or indirectly from conditions caused by an enemy air raid or other attack and sustained in the performance of work in which th e ri sk o f in j u r y was mat e ri al ly increased by the necessity to perform it either during or immediately after an enemy air raid or other attack.
(2) No certificate shall be given by the Committee in relation to the definition of "war service injury" in the foregoing subarticle, unless they have been furnished with a report about the injury in question by a responsible officer of the civil defence organization of which the worker concerned was a member at the time when the injury was sustained and any such certificate may be revoked by the Committee at any time on new fa cts being brought to th eir notice.

Allowances and pensions in respect of certain war injuries and war service injuries. Amended by: XXV.1962.3;

L.N. 46 of 1965; LVIII. 1974.68.

3. (1) The President of Malta may, with the approval by r e so lu ti o n of th e H o u s e of Rep r esentatives, make a scheme in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, providing for the making of payments out of the Consolidated Fund in respect of the fol l o w i ng in ju ri es su st ain e d du ri ng t h e perio d o f th e p r e s ent emergency, namely -

(a) war injuries sustained by gainfully occupied persons (with such exceptions, if any, as may be specified in the scheme) and by persons of such other classes as may be so specified; and
(b) war service injuries sustained by civil defence workers.
(2) Any such scheme may be made to take effect from a date not earl ier t h an two mon t hs before t h e commen c ement of this O r di n a nc e and suc h d a te i s he re in re fe r r e d to as th e da te o f commencement of the scheme.
(3) In respect of any injury, described in subarticle (1) a scheme may authorize the Committee to be appointed under that

*This Ordinance was repealed by Act XXIX of 1980.

scheme, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the scheme to make the following payments to or in respect of the person injured, namely -
(a) payments by way of allowance (hereafter in this Ordinance referred to as "injury allowances"), which shall be payable only so long as the person injured is incapacitated for work by the injury and has not received any such payment as is mentioned in the next following paragraph; and
(b) payments by way of pension or allowance or grant, which shall be payable only where the injury causes serious and prolonged disablement or death.
(4) A scheme may authorize the making of payments in respect of injuries sustained before the date of commencement of the sch e me, provided that, except as allowed by subarticle (5) no payment shall be made in respect of any period prior to that date.
(5) In the case of an injury sustained before the date of commencement of a scheme, if, as a result of that injury any person has died or has suf f ered serious and prolonged disablem ent continuing after the date of commencement of a scheme the scheme may authorize the Committee to make, in its discretion, a payment not ex ceed ing h alf t he am ount which woul d have been payabl e under the scheme during the period from the date of the injury to the date of commencement of the scheme had the scheme been in operation during that period:
Provided that no such payment shall be made unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Committee that the person to or for whose benefit the payment may be made has suffered serious financial h a rd sh ip as a result of t h e inj u ry and conti nues to su ff er such hardship after the commencement of the scheme.
(6) A scheme may empower the President of Malta to make regulations for giving effect to the purposes of the scheme.
(7) Any decision of the Committee set up under the scheme as t o t h e makin g , refu sal or amo unt , or as to the cont inu a n c e o r discontinuance, of a payment under a scheme may be varied by a subsequent decision of the same Committee, but save in so far as it is so varied shall be final and conclusive.

4. A scheme may be amended or revoked by regulations made by the Minister responsible for finance.

5. (1) In the case of injuries in respect of which a payment may be made under a scheme, there shall not be payable, either to the person injured or to any other person, any com pensation or damages which, apart from the provisions of this subarticle -

(a) would be payable under the Workmen’s Compen- sation Ordinance, 1934, (Ordinance XXVIII of 1934)*;

Procedure as to schemes. Amended by: XXV.1962.3: L.N. 46 of 1965; LVIII. 1974.68. Substituted by: XLV. 1975.2.

Relief from liability to pay compensation or damages. Amended by: X.1942.2;

XVII. 1942.2.

or
(b) would, whether by virtue of any enactment, by virtue of any contract, or at common law, be payable-
(i) in the case of a war injury, by any person; or
(ii) in the case of a war service injury sustained by a civil defence worker, by the employer of the worker, by any person who has any responsibility in connection with his duties as a worker or by any other civil defence worker;
on the ground that the injury in question was attributable to some negligence, nuisance or breach of duty for which the person by whom the compensation or damages would be payable is responsible.
(2) Where in respect of a war injury or a war service injury, whether the result thereof is death or disablement,
(a) a person becomes entitled to the payment of, or may be awarded, a pension and, or alternatively, an allowance under any of the provisions set out in subarticle (3); and
(b) payment may also be made under a scheme,
no payment shall be made under any one of such provisions:
Provided that where the payment that, but for this subarticle, would have been payable under any such provision, is higher than the payment under a scheme, there shall be transferred from the appropriate Pension Vote or from the Police Reward and Relief Fund or from the Police Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund, as the case may be, to the scheme vote a sum equal to the difference between the first-mentioned and the last-mentioned payment, and thereupon payment under the scheme shall be increased by that sum.
(3) The provisions referred to in subarticle (2) are the following, that is to say -
Cap. 93. (a) the Pensions Ordinance;
(b) (in so far as they are applicable to officers who, in virtue of article 20 of the Pensions Ordinance, have so elected) the Pensions Act, 1926, and Ordinance IX of
1885;
(c) the Regulations regarding the Police Reward and Relief Fund and the Police Widows’ and Orphans’ Pensions Fund.
(4) The failure to give a notice or make a claim or commence proceedings within the time required by any enactment shall not be a bar to the maintenance of proceedings in respect of any personal injury, if -
(a) an application for a payment under a scheme, or under any other enactment or instrument, has been duly made

*This Ordinance was included in the 1942 Revised Edition of the Laws of Malta as

Chapter 128; which chapter was subsequently repealed by Act VI of 1956.

to the Committee in respect of the injury; and
(b) the court or Board before which the proceedings are brought is satisfied that the said application was made in the reasonable belief that the injury was such that a payment could be made under the scheme or that other enactment or instrument, as the case may be; and
(c) the Committee certifies that the application was rejected, or that payments made in pursuance of the application were discontinued, on the ground that the injury was not such an injury; and
(d) the proceedings are commenced within one month from the date of the said certificate of the Committee.

6. Where an employee -

(i) is in receipt of an injury allowance under a scheme during a period for which he is incapacitated for work; and
(ii) would, but for the provisions of this article, be entitled to receive a sum from his employer by way of wages or other emoluments in respect of that period;
the employer shall be under no obligation to pay to him in respect of that period an amount greater than the amount by which the said sum exceeds that allowance.

7. (1) Where it is necessary, in order to determine the amount of any payment to be awarded under a scheme in respect of any injury, to ascertain the earnings of the person injured in respect of any period before he sustained the injury, the Committee may by notice in writing require -

(i) any person who was an employer of the injured person during that period; and
(ii) any other person having any knowledge with respect to the financial circumstances of the injured person during that period;
to furnish in accordance with the notice any information in his possession relating to those earnings or circumstances, and to produce to any person specified in the notice any wage books, records or other documents in his possession containing any entries with respect to those earnings.

Reduction of sick pay by amount of allowances.

Information as to earnings. Amended by: XIII. 1983.5;

VIII. 1990.3;

L.N. 409 of 2007.

Cap. 9.

(2) If any person fails to comply with the requirements of any such notice h e sh al l be l i able o n convi ction by a Co urt of Magistrates to a fine of not less than four euro and sixty-six cents (4.66) and not more than eleven euro and sixty-five cents (11.65), but if the failure of compliance consists in purported compliance with the notic e e f fe cted by an untrue s t a t em ent or an untr u e representation, knowingly or recklessly made, or by the production of any docum ent which is false in a material particular or calculated to deceive, then the fine shall be of not less than twenty- three euro and twenty-nine cent s (23.29 ) and of not more than forty-six euro and fifty-nine cents (46.59) or the offence shall be punished by such heavier punishment as may be inflicted under the Criminal Code.

Penalty for false statements.

Cap.9. Assignments, etc.,

to be void.

Closing time for applications. Added by:

XLV. 1975.3.

8. Any person who, for the purpose of obtaining a payment u n d e r a sche me , ei th er for h i m s el f or fo r an y ot her p e rson , knowingly makes any untrue statement or untrue representation, shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to such heavier punishment as he may be liable to under the Criminal Code.

9. Any assignment of or charge on, and any agreement to assign or charge, any payment awarded or to be awarded under a scheme shall be void, and any such payment shall not be subject to a garnishee order, nor, on the bankruptcy of any person to whom such a payment will have been awarded, shall such payment pass to the curator or to the curators.

10. No payment may be made under this Ordinance or under any scheme made thereunder unless an application therefor has been made before the 15th October, 1975.