                            FERTILE SOIL (PRESERVATION)                   [  CAP. 236.           1
CHAPTER 236
FERTILE SOIL (PRESERVATION) ACT 
To provide for the Preservation of Fertile Soil.
(1st August, 1973) *
Enacted by ACT XXIX of 1973, as amended by Act XIII of 1983.
Short title.
Interpretation.
"agriculture" means the cultivation of agricultural and
horticultural crops;
"building" means any house, room, farmhouse, store, or any
other structure, or any part thereof, and includes any road or street,
yard, court, playingfield or any other enclosed space not devoted to
agriculture;
"Director" means the Director of Agriculture and any officer of
the Department of Agriculture, deputed by him;
"fertile soil" means soil which, in the opinion of the Director, is
suitable or could be made suitable for purposes of agriculture;
 "inspector" means any public officer designated by the Minister
responsible for agriculture, whether generally or specially, and
whether in the Department of Agriculture or not, to examine any
fertile soil, or to perform any such duties as are in connection with
this Act;
"owner" means any person on whose behalf or in whose interest
any building is being or is going to be erected, and includes, in the
case of a person absent from Malta or any person who is a minor or
legally incapacitated, the legal representatives of such person;
"person" includes an association or a body of persons. 
Preservation of 
fertile soil.
3. (1) No person may - 
( a ) transport fertile soil to any site for any purpose
whatsoever in quantities larger than one half cubic
metre on every single occasion, without having
previously obtained the written permission of the
Director;
( b ) render unsuitable for agriculture any fertile soil by
mixing it with stones or by any other means;
( c ) cover fertile soil with any layer of concrete, stones,
stone slabs, or any other similar material, unless it is
considered as necessary for or in connection with
agriculture by the Director or by the inspector;
( d ) deposit on fertile soil, or leave on fertile soil after a
written notice for its removal has been given by the
* See  subsection (2) of section 1 of the Act as originally enacted, which has been
omitted under the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980.
2        CAP.  236. ]                             FERTILE SOIL (PRESERVATION)     
Director, any object or objects having an area larger
than two square metres for a period longer than thirty
days; or
( e ) deposit, or leave deposited, any fertile soil in such
manner as the Director will have notified in writing to
such person as being unsuitable to be used for
agriculture.
(2) Any notice required to be given under paragraphs ( d ) and ( e )
of subsection (1) of this section shall be complied with within
thirty days from the date of notification by registered post.
Erection of 
buildings.
4. No person may erect, or cause or permit or allow to be
erected, any building, or any part of a foundation for any building,
before having given a forty-eight hours notice in writing on the
prescribed form by registered post to the Director, and before he
has removed at his own expense all the fertile soil existing on the
site over which the building is going to extend, to any land
belonging to him or to any other site indicated by the Director, and,
in either case, the soil is deposited in such manner as approved by
the said Director, which approval has to be given within ten
working days.
Notice. 5. (1) The notice referred to in section 4 of this Act shall be
deemed to be null and void if -
( a ) it is not accompanied by a site plan indicating clearly
the site in question; or
( b ) it is not completely filled; or
( c ) it contains incorrect information; or
( d ) it is not signed by the owner or by the architect in
charge of the works.
(2) When the fertile soil which is to be removed according to the
provisions of section 4 of this Act has not been removed by the
lapse of six months from the date of the notice, a new notice will
have to be given.
Power of Director 
and inspector to 
enter lands.
6. It shall be lawful for the Director or for any inspector to
enter upon any land on which any building is in the course of
construction, or on which any building is going to be constructed,
in order to ascertain that the provisions of this Act are being or
have been complied with.
Obstruction. 7. No person may obstruct, resist or hinder the Director or any
inspector in the lawful exercise of his powers or duties under this
Act.
Regulations. 8. (1) The Minister responsible for agriculture may make
regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.
(2) Regulations made under this section shall be laid on the
Table of the House of Representatives as soon as may be after they
are made and if, within the period of twenty-eight days after they
are so laid, the House resolves that they be annulled or amended,
the same shall thereupon cease to have effect or shall be so
amended, as the case may require, but without prejudice to the
                            FERTILE SOIL (PRESERVATION)                   [  CAP. 236.           3
validity of anything previously done thereunder or to the making of
new regulations.
Penalties. 
Amended by: 
XIII. 1983.4,5.
9. Any person who acts in contravention of, or who makes
default in complying with, the provisions of this Act or of any
regulations made thereunder, or who assists any other person in so
doing, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable, on
conviction, to a fine ( multa ) of not less than twenty liri but not
exceeding five hundred liri in the case of a first offence under this
section, and, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine
( multa ) of not less than two hundred liri but not exceeding five
hundred liri.
Offences by body 
of persons.
10.   Where an offence is committed by an association or body of
persons, every person who, at the time of the commission of the
offence, was a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer
of such association or body of persons, or was purporting to act in
any such capacity, shall be guilty of that offence unless he proves
that the offence was committed without his knowledge and that he
exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of the
offence.
