Overhaul Of The Malta Competition Act

I. Background

Following the landmark constitutional judgements in the case of Federation of Estate Agents vs the Director General et, whereby the Constitutional Court decided that it was not constitutionally permissible for an Authority such as the Office for Competition ("OFC") to impose sanctions of a penal nature and that such sanctions can only be imposed by an independent and impartial tribunal or court of law, on the 29th of May 2019, the Maltese Parliament approved a Bill to amend the Competition Act (Chapter 379 of the Laws of Malta)("CA") and, subsequently, enacted the bill as law on the 31st of May 2019.

The amendments to the CA significantly change the powers of the OFC (which exercises its authority through its Director General), most notably by removing the OFC's power to itself issue infringement decisions and relative fines and this in light of the above-mentioned judgements. Following these changes to the CA, any investigation by the OFC which