In a judgement delivered on the 10th May 2019, the Court of Magistrates reaffirmed a well-established principle of criminal procedure. This principle relates to the norm that whenever an amendment to the law takes place one has to always apply the law which is more favourable to the accused. Thus, if a person is charged...
Directors of LexPractis Limited attend Money Laundering Conference. As part of our policy of ongoing training, Dr Jeannine Giglio and Mr Godfrey Leone Ganado attended a one-day conference entitled ‘The Prevention of Money Laundering & Financial Crime’ held at the Xara Lodge on the 14th May 2019. There was a good number of experienced speakers...
The Trademark Search and Opposition Rules, Subsidiary Legislation 416.03, prescribes the procedure for filing and examining an opposition to the registration of a trademark under Maltese Law. Under the Rules, for each new trademark application, the Commerce Department is obliged to carry out a relative search under the national trademark database in order to identify...
Two men facing imprisonment for drug trafficking and possession were instead handed a suspended sentence due to amendments made to the law. Jason Abela, 47, and Denis Borg, 40, who were undergoing separate criminal proceedings charged with drug trafficking were both found guilty by the Criminal Court. Jason Abela, in 2002 had been arrested for...
2 Company Directors of a well established company in the fish industry have been acquitted from all charges brought against them and have also been given back full possession and ownership of the Maltese flagged vessel Hannibal 1 as the Court found them not guilty of any regulatory breaches. Defence lawyer Dr Joseph Giglio from...
Further guidelines have been issued by the Malta Vat Department on the 28th February 2019. These guidelines refer specifically to Item 12 of Part Two of the Third Schedule of the Vat Act, namely addressing the yacht leasing operations and seeking to mitigate the VAT impact on the purchase of a pleasure yacht, which is...
The beginning of the year has brought into effect Regulation 6 (GAAR) by virtue of Subsidiary Legislation 123.187, of the Income Tax Act, Chapter 123 of the Laws of Malta. This legislation has implemented the provisions of Directive (EU) 2016/1164 (ATAD I). This anti-abuse measure is not new to Maltese tax legislation since Regulation 6...
Taxpayer may opt to pay the flat rate of taxation of 15% tax on rental income which applies to both residential and commercial property, but excludes rent from related parties. This 15% tax rate is an option that may be used by both individual taxpayers as well as companies. In the event that a taxpayer...
Fitch Ratings experts concluded its findings in a report that in the Maltese economy “the banking sector remains sound”. Malta has received an A+ rating by Fitch Ratings, this implies that the credit rating agency believes Malta’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating as having a stable outlook. Malta’s economy continues to exceed performance and the...
Malta on the forefront with the enactment of three pieces of legislation; namely: The Malta Digital Innovation Act (the “MDIA Act”), The Innovative Technology Arrangement and Services Act (the “ITAS Act”), and The Virtual Financial Assets Act (the “VFA Act”). The introduction of these three pieces of legislation, which although to date are not yet...
