Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Maltese Laws

The Immigration (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Bill No. 30)

A BILL

entitled

AN ACT to amend the Immigration Act (Cap. 217).

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

Short title and commencement

Cap. 217.

Addition of new article to the principal Act.

1. (1) The short title of this Act is the Immigration (Amendment) Act, 2009, and this Act shall be read and construed as one with the Immigration Act, hereinafter referred to as "the principal Act".

(2) The provisions of this Act shall come into force on such a date as the Minister responsible for immigration may by notice in the Gazette establish, and different dates may be so established for different provisions or different purposes of this Act.

2. Immediately after article 22 of the principal Act there shall be added the following new article:

"Mutual recognition of expulsion orders.
23. (1) The Principal Immigration Officer shall recognise a decision of expulsion issued by another Member State in line with the provisions of Directive 2001/
40/EC of the 28th May 2001 on the Mutual
Recognition of Decisions on the Expulsion of Third Country Nationals and take the necessary measures to enforce such decision.
C 971
(2) The provisions of this article shall apply to decisions of expulsion, which have not been rescinded by the issuing Member State, in relation to:
(a) a third country national, whose expulsion is based on a serious and present threat to public order or to national security and safety, taken in the following cases:
(i) a conviction in the issuing Member State for an offence punishable by a penalty involving deprivation of liberty of at least one year;
(ii) the existence of serious grounds for believing that the third country national has committed serious criminal offences or the existence of solid evidence of his intention to commit such offences within the territory of a Member State;
(b) a third country national who is the subject of an expulsion decision based on failure to comply with national rules on the entry or residence of aliens.
(3) The provision of this article shall not apply to family members of persons who have exercised their right of free movement in accordance with the provisions of European Union and Maltese legislation.
(4) A third country national in whose regard a decision of expulsion has been issued as provided in sub-article (2) may be taken into custody without warrant by the Principal Immigration Officer or by any Police officer and while he is so kept in custody he shall be deemed to be in legal custody.
C 972

Cap. 12.

(5) No expulsion decision issued by the Principal Immigration Officer or by the competent administrative authority of a Member State shall be obstructed by means of any warrant issued under the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure.
(6) The provisions of articles 14 and
25A shall apply to expulsion orders and the enforcement of expulsion orders taken against third country nationals.".

Objects and reasons

The object of the Bill is to implement the provisions of Directive 2001/40/EC of the 28th May 2001 on the Mutual Recognition of Decisions on the Expulsion of Third Country Nationals.