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The Trading Licences (Amendment) Act (Act No. Xxi Of 2005)

AN ACT to amend the Trading Licences Act, Cap. 441 and to make consequential amendments thereto.

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>-
1. The short title of this Act is the Trading Licences (Amendment) Act, 2005 and it shall be read and construed as one with the Trading Licences Act, hereinafter in the Act referred to as “the principal Act”.
2. In article 2 of the principal Act, for the definition for
“commercial fair” there shall be substituted the following definition>-
“ “commercial fair” means any commercial activity, which includes the exhibition of goods or the sale by retail of goods<”.
3. Article 3 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows> (a) in subarticle (3) thereof, for the words “such registers”
there shall be substituted the words “such registers, records or
databases”< and
(b) in subarticle (4) thereof, for the words “any other authority” there shall be substituted the words “any other authority, entity”.

Short title. Cap. 441.

Amendment of article 2 of the principal Act.

Amendment of article 3 of the principal Act.

A 506

Amendment of article 5 of the principal Act.

Amendment of article 6 of the principal Act.

4. Article 5 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows> (a) in subarticle (1) thereof, for the words “by the Minister.”
there shall be substituted the words “by the Minister>” and immediately thereafter there shall be inserted the following proviso>
“Provided that where the Chairperson is not the head of the regulatory authority, there shall be an additional member to the said Committee who will be either the head of the regulatory authority himself or a person designated by him for such purpose.”<
(b) in paragraph (a) of subarticle (3) thereof, for the words “commercial sector” there shall be substituted the words “commercial sector, who will be substituted as may be necessary in their duties by three other substitute members appointed by the Minister specifically for that purpose”< and
(c) for subarticle (5) thereof, there shall be substituted the following>-
“(5) (a) For the purposes of subarticle (4) the Minister shall, in consultation with the particular commercial sector, appoint a panel of persons who in his opinion best represent the interests of the various commercial sectors.
(b) The Minister shall on a yearly basis publish a list of persons appointed to represent a particular commercial sector for that particular year.”.
5. Article 6 of the principal Act shall be amended as follows>- (a) in subarticle (1) thereof, for the words “at least once a
month” there shall be substituted the words “as necessary” and for
the words “three members” there shall be substituted the words
“two members”< and
(b) for subarticle (3) thereof, there shall be substituted the following>-
“(3) Where advice is requested by the Committee in accordance with this Act, its conclusions to the Minister shall reflect all the opinions of the representatives as expressed in the Committee.”.
6. In article 7(2) of the principal Act paragraph (e) shall be renumbered as paragraph (f) and immediately after paragraph (d) thereof there shall be added the following new paragraph (e)>
“(e) monitor the administration of the provisions of this Act and report thereon as necessary to the Minister and to the regulatory authority<”.
7. In paragraph (b) of subarticle (4) of article 9 of the principal Act, immediately after the words “regulatory authority” there shall be added the words “or the local council as the case may be”.
8. For article 13 of the principal Act, there shall be substituted the following>-
“ 13. (1) Subject to the provisions of article 4, it shall not be lawful for any person to open or keep any commercial premises unless he holds in respect of such premises a licence from the regulatory authority.
(2) It shall not be lawful for any person to organize and hold a commercial fair from any premises or any street without the licence from the regulatory authority>
Provided that for the purposes of this sub-article “premises” includes any enclosed area or any other venue, not being a commercial premises whether it is movable or immovable.”.
9. Article 14 of the principal Act, shall be amended as follows> (a) for paragraph (a) of subarticle (2), there shall be
substituted the following>–
“(2)(a) The provisions of subarticle (1) shall not apply when a person or a group of not more than six persons, in any street, play any musical instrument or otherwise display their artistic talent and collect money in the form of voluntary donations from passers-by who stop to watch the performance, but shall apply when a person, in any street, produces on site and sells a work of art on site.”<
(b) in paragraph (b) of subarticle (2) thereof, immediately after the word “produces” there shall be inserted the words “on site”< and
(c) in subarticle (3) thereof, for the words “articles 38,
40 and 41” there shall be substituted the words “article 41”.
A 507

Amendment of article 7 of the principal Act.

Amendment of article 9 of the principal Act.

Substitution of article 13 of the principal Act.

Amendment of article 14 of the principal Act.

A 508

Substitution of heading of Part IV.

Amendment of article 20 of the principal Act.

10. Immediately after article 16 of the principal Act, for the heading “Part IV – Registration of Commercial Activities and Premises”, there shall be substituted the following>-
“Part IV – Registration of Non-Premises Based Commercial
Activities”.
11. For subarticle (2) of article 20 of the principal Act there shall be substituted the following subarticle>-
“(2) Saving the provisions of subarticle (1), a Local Council shall not issue a permit for any activity where the sale by retail, and or the provision of goods and services against a donation is involved, being charitable or otherwise, without the consent of the regulatory authority.”.
__________
Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 335 of 7th December,
2005.
ANTON TABONE

Speaker

RICHARD J. CAUCHI

Clerk to the House of Representatives