The Freedom of Information Act (Chapter 496 of the Laws of Malta) establishes the right to the general public to access to documents held by public authorities in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act.
Notwithstanding the above, the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority Act (Chapter 510 of the Laws of Malta) (hereinafter ‘the MCCAA Act’), specifies, among others, that except where otherwise provided by law, the members of the Board, Directors General and other officers or employees of the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (hereinafter ‘the Authority’) and advisors, consultants or other persons engaged with the Authority, shall not communicate or make accessible any information, including documents, which they deem to be internal or which contains business secrets or other confidential information.
Entities covered:
The Office for Competition,
The Office for Consumer Affairs,
The Technical Regulations Division,
The Standards and Metrology Institute
Description of the MCCAA’s structure
The organizational chart of the MCCAA can be found via this link.
Description of the MCCAA’s functions and responsibilities
In accordance with Article 4 of the MCCAA Act, the Authority shall have, as its purpose, the attainment and maintenance of well-functioning markets for the benefit of consumers and economic operators.
The functions of the Authority are established hereunder:
to promote and enhance competition;
to safeguard consumers’ interests and enhance their welfare;
to promote voluntary standards and provide standardization related services;
to promote the national metrology strategy;
to promote the smooth transposition and adoption of technical regulations; and
to perform such other function that may be assigned to it under this or any other law or regulations.
In terms of Article 7 of the MCCAA Act, the Authority shall achieve the functions referred to herein through the responsibilities vested in the four main entities: the Office for Competition, the Office for Consumer Affairs, the Technical Regulations Division and the Standards and Metrology Institute. Provided that, these entities shall have responsibilities provided for under the MCCAA Act, the Competition Act (Cap. 379 of the Laws of Malta), the Consumer Affairs Act (Cap 378 of the Laws of Malta), the Product Safety Act (Cap. 427 of the Laws of Malta), the Metrology Act (Cap 454 of the Laws of Malta) and any other relevant laws or regulations.
A general description of the categories of documents held by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority can be accessed via this link.
The FOI Officers of the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority may be contacted by e-mail [email protected] or by telephone 23952615.
FOI Requests may be submitted by e-mail to [email protected], through the FOI Portal (www.foi.gov.mt) via the e-ID or through the online form.
Details of Internal Complaints Procedure
An applicant whose request for information is refused, or who is otherwise not satisfied with the information provided, its format or the extension of the deadline for the submission of the notification indicating whether a request would be met or not, may address a complaint to the Authority.
The complaint should be addressed to the Authority’s FOI Officer, who shall bring the complaint to the attention of the officer responsible. The officer responsible shall reply to the applicant within 10 working days from the receipt of the complaint. The applicant shall also be informed that he or she may appeal the decision or otherwise address a complaint to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (Cap. 496 of the Laws of Malta).
The officer responsible shall inform the applicant of the decision taken with respect to his or her complaint, and in the event of confirmation of a decision not to release the pertinent information, shall explain the reasons thereof. Whenever the applicant’s complaint is related to the format of the information provided or to an extension of the deadline for the submission of the notification indicating whether a request would be met or not by the Authority, and the original decision is upheld, the applicant shall be given an explanation as to why his or her complaint cannot be positively addressed.
An applicant may also make use of the Internal Complaints Procedure to report failure to meet deadlines or to send notifications. In those cases where the request for information can be met, but has not been met within the deadlines specified by the Act, the officer responsible shall waive any applicable fees for the submission of information.
Other Information
Method of Payment:
Payments of applicable fees can be made by bank transfer only payable to the ‘Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority’.
Bank Name - Bank of Valletta
IBAN number - MT14VALL22013000000040019986609
Swift code - VALLMTMT
Complaints may be submitted to the Public Authority by e-mail to [email protected], through the FOI portal www.foi.gov.mt via the e-ID or through the online form.
Further information with regards the Freedom of Information Act can be found on www.foi.gov.mt.
