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CHAPTER 249 
INTERPRETATION ACT
To make provision in respect of the construction and application of Acts
of Parliament and other instruments having the force of law and in respect
of the language used therein.
4th February, 1975
ACT VII of 1975, as amended by Acts: XLIX of 1981, XXXV of 1990, I of
2001 and IX of 2003.
Short title.
Interpretation.
"Act" means an Act of Parliament and any other Act passed by
the Legislature of Malta and includes any code, ordinance,
proclamation, order, rule, regulation, bye-law, notice or other
instrument having the force of law in Malta other than an
instrument to which the Act of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland entitled the
Interpretation Act, 1889, applies;
"pass", and any derivative thereof, used in relation to the word
Act, includes the making of any instrument having the force of law. 
(2) No provision of this Act limiting its application, or that of
any of its provisions, to certain Acts shall be construed as implying
that other Acts, or any provision thereof or any expression
occurring therein, are to be interpreted, construed or applied in a
manner different from that provided in this Act.
Definitions.  
Amended by: 
XLIX. 1981.6;
I. 2001. 2.
3. (1) In this Act, and in any Act passed after the
commencement of this Act, unless the contrary intention appears - 
"Act of Parliament" means any law made by Parliament;
"amend" includes repeal, add to and vary; 
"Constitution" means the Constitution of Malta; 
"contravene" includes fail to comply with;
"document" means any matter expressed or described on any
substance by means of letters, figures or marks, or by more than
one of those means, intended to be used or which may be used for
the purpose of recording that matter;
"enactment" means a written law or any provision thereof; 
"function" includes power and duty;
"Gazette" means the Malta Government Gazette or any other
official journal substituted therefor and published by order of the
Government;
"Government" means the Government of Malta; 
"House" means the House of Representatives of Malta;
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"law" includes any instrument having the force of law and any
unwritten rule of law, and "lawful" and "lawfully" shall be
construed accordingly;
"name" used in relation to an individual includes surname; 
"Parliament" means the Parliament of Malta;
"repeal" used in relation to a law includes rescind, revoke, cancel
and replace;
"words" includes figures and symbols;
"writing" includes printing, lithography, typewriting,
photography and any other mode of representing or reproducing
words in a visible form.
(2) In this Act, and in every Act passed either before or after
the commencement of this Act, "Malta" means the Island of Malta,
the Island of Gozo and other islands of the Maltese Archipelago,
including the territorial waters thereof.
(3) A reference in an enactment, whether passed before or after
the commencement of this Act, to a part, article or schedule shall,
unless the contrary intention appears, be read as a reference to a
part, article or schedule of that enactment; and references in any
such enactment to a subarticle, paragraph or sub-paragraph shall,
unless the contrary intention appears, be read as a reference to a
subarticle, paragraph or sub-paragraph of the article, subarticles or
paragraph, as the case may be, in which the reference occurs.
(4) ( a ) Any reference in any law to ''international law'' shall
be construed as a reference to international law
interpreted where required in accordance with such
international instruments, if any, to which Malta may
from time to time be a party.
( b ) Any reference in any law to Malta’s international
obligations shall be construed as a reference to the
obligations of Malta assumed under international law.
( c ) The terms ''crimes against humanity'', ''crimes against
international law'' and ''political offence'' shall have
the same meaning assigned to them under customary
international law in general and in international
instruments to which Malta may be a party in
particular.
Grammatical 
variations, gender, 
number, etc.
4. In this Act and in every other Act whether passed before or
after the commencement of this Act, unless the contrary intention
appears - 
( a ) the definition of any word or expression shall extend
to all grammatical variations and to cognate
expressions of the word or expression so defined;
( b ) words importing the masculine gender shall include
females;
( c ) words in the singular shall include the plural, and
words in the plural shall include the singular;
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( d ) the expression "person" shall include a body or other
association of persons, whether such body or
association is corporate or unincorporate.
Commencement.
after the commencement of this Act, the expression
"commencement", when used with reference to an Act, shall mean
the time at which the Act comes into operation.
(2) Where an Act of Parliament passed after the
commencement of this Act, or an order, warrant, scheme, rule,
regulation, bye-law, notice or other instrument made, granted or
issued after the commencement of this Act under a power conferred
by any Act, whether passed before or after the commencement of
this Act, is expressed to come into operation on a particular day,
the same shall be construed as coming into operation immediately
on the expiration of the previous day.
Construction of 
provisions as to 
exercise of powers 
and duties. 
Amended by: 
XXXV.1990.2.
6. In any Act, whether passed before or after the
commencement of this Act -
( a ) where such Act confers a power or imposes a duty,
then, unless the contrary intention appears, the power
may be exercised and the duty shall be performed from
time to time as occasion requires;
( b ) where such Act confers a power or imposes a duty on
the holder of an office, as such, then, unless the
contrary intention appears, the power may be
exercised and the duty shall be performed by the
holder for the time being of that office;
( c ) where such Act confers a power on the holder of an
office, and such power relates to any business of the
Government, or is exercisable as part of the functions
of a department of Government for which
responsibility has been assigned to a Minister under
the Constitution, such power shall be exercisable by
the holder of that office, and except to the extent that
the holder of that office is expressly declared by any
law not to be subject to the direction or control of any
other person or authority, the Minister responsible for
that business or department of the Government shall
have power, even where such power is expressed to be
exercisable in the discretion (whether absolute or
otherwise) of the holder of that office, to give such
direction in writing relative to the exercise of that
power (including a direction ordering the reversal of a
decision) as such Minister may deem fit;
( d ) where such Act confers a power to make any rules,
regulations or bye-laws, the power shall, unless the
contrary intention appears, be construed as including a
power, exercisable in the like manner and subject to
the like consent and conditions, if any, to rescind,
revoke, amend, or vary the rules, regulations or bye-
laws, and such power shall be exercisable without
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prejudice to the making of new rules, regulations or
bye-laws.
Exercise of 
statutory powers 
between the 
passing and 
commencement of 
an Act.
7. Where an Act passed after the commencement of this Act
is not to come into operation immediately on the passing thereof,
and confers power to make any appointment, to make, grant or
issue any order, warrant, scheme, rules, regulations, bye-laws,
notice or other instrument, or to give notices, to prescribe forms, or
to do any other thing for the purpose of the Act, that power may,
unless the contrary intention appears, be exercised at any time after
the passing of the Act, so far as may be necessary or expedient for
the purpose of bringing the Act into operation at the date of the
commencement thereof, subject to this restriction, that any
instrument made under the power shall not, unless the contrary
intention appears in the Act, or the contrary is necessary for
bringing the Act into operation, come into operation until the Act
comes into operation; and the provisions of this article shall apply
to anything done under or in respect of Acts passed before the
commencement of this Act as they apply to things done under or in
respect of Acts passed after such commencement.
Construction of 
subsidiary 
legislation.
8. Where an Act, whether passed before or after the
commencement of this Act, confers power to make, grant or issue
any order, warrant, scheme, rules, regulations, bye-laws or other
instrument, expressions used in any such instrument made after the
commencement of this Act shall, unless the contrary intention
appears, have the same respective meanings as in the Act
conferring the power.
Subsidiary 
legislation may be 
retrospective.
9. Any law made after the commencement of this Act by
virtue of a power conferred by any Act passed either before or after
the commencement of this Act may, unless the contrary intention
appears in the Act conferring that power, be made to operate
retrospectively to any date which is not earlier than the
commencement of such Act or, where different provisions of such
Act come into operation on different dates, the commencement of
the provision under which the subsidiary law is made:
Provided that no person shall be made or shall become
liable to any punishment in respect of anything done or omitted to
be done before the commencement of the subsidiary law.
Subsidiary laws to 
be valid in case of 
wrong reference to 
enabling powers.
10. Where by virtue of any Act, whether passed before or after
the commencement of this Act, power is conferred to make
subsidiary laws, any subsidiary law that may lawfully be made
thereunder shall be valid and shall have effect whether or not it
purports to be made in exercise of those powers and even if it
purports to be made in exercise of other powers.
Subsidiary 
legislation to be 
laid on Table of 
House.
11. (1) Where an Act of Parliament or other Act passed by the
Legislature of Malta or an Ordinance confers power to make rules
or regulations or other subsidiary legislation of a like nature, any
such legislation made by virtue of those powers after the coming
into force of this Act shall as soon as may be after it is made be laid
on the Table of the House and if, within the period of twenty-eight
days after it is so laid, the House resolves that it be annulled or
 INTERPRETATION     [ CAP. 249.         
amended, the same shall thereupon cease to have effect or shall be
so amended, as the case may require, but without prejudice to the
validity of anything previously done thereunder or to the making of
new rules, regulations or other subsidiary legislation of a like
nature.
(2) In reckoning for the purposes of subarticle (1) any period of
twenty-eight days therein referred to, no account shall be taken of
any time during which the House of Representatives is not in
session or during which it is adjourned for more than seven days.
(3) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this article,
where the principal law conferring the power to make subsidiary
legislation makes different provision in respect of any of the
matters aforesaid, those provisions shall apply to any subsidiary
legislation made by virtue of those powers in preference to the
provisions of this article in respect of those matters.
Effect of repeal in 
future Acts and of 
amendments in any 
Act.
12. (1) Where any Act passed after the commencement of this
Act repeals any other law, then, unless the contrary intention
appears, the repeal shall not -
( a ) revive anything not in force or existing at the time at
which the repeal takes effect;
( b ) affect the previous operation of any enactment so
repealed or anything duly done or suffered under any
law so repealed;
( c ) affect any right, privilege or liability acquired or
accrued or incurred under any law so repealed;
( d ) affect any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred
in respect of any offence committed against any law so
repealed, or any liability thereto;
( e ) affect any investigation, legal proceeding, or remedy
in respect of any such right, privilege, obligation,
liability, penalty, forfeiture, or punishment as
aforesaid;
and any such investigation, legal proceeding, or remedy may be
instituted, continued, or enforced, and any such penalty, forfeiture
or punishment may be imposed, as if the repealing Act had not been
passed.
(2) Where an Act, whether passed before or after the
commencement of this Act, amends any other Act passed either
before or after the commencement of this Act, or any provision of
any such other Act, the Act or provision so amended, as well as
anything done thereunder or by virtue thereof, shall, unless the
contrary intention appears, continue to have full effect, and shall so
continue to have effect as amended, and subject to the changes
made, by the amending Act.
(3) For the purposes of subarticle (2) "amendment" means and
includes any amendment, modification, change, alteration, addition
or deletion, in whatsoever form or manner it is made and
howsoever expressed, and includes also a provision whereby an Act
or a provision thereof is substituted or replaced, or repealed and
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substituted, or repealed and a different provision made in place
thereof.
Offences by 
association of 
persons.
13. Where any offence under or against any provision
contained in any Act, whether passed before or after this Act, is
committed by a body or other association of persons, be it
corporate or unincorporate, every person who, at the time of the
commission of the offence, was a director, manager, secretary or
other similar officer of such body or association, 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:
Provided that, except in respect of offences under or against
a provision contained in an Act in which a provision similar to that
of this article occurs, the provisions of this article shall apply only
to offences committed after the commencement of this Act.
Language of laws. 14. Without prejudice to the provisions of any other
enactment, an Act of Parliament passed after the commencement of
this Act may be enacted, in whole or in part, in the Maltese or in the
English language only if the bill for that Act of Parliament, or part
of such bill, is presented to the Clerk of the House and published in
one only of the said languages and if the Act when passed contains
a provision authorising the enactment thereof, or any one or more
of its parts, as the case may require, in that language only.
Amendment or 
repeal of Act in 
same session.
15. Any Act of Parliament may be altered, amended or
repealed in the same session of Parliament; and the provisions of
this article shall apply to anything done in respect of any enactment
before the commencement of this Act as they apply to anything
done in respect of an Act of Parliament after such commencement.
Electronic 
publication.
Added by:
IX. 2003.47.
16. Where any act or document is required to be published in
the Gazette, it shall be sufficient that such act or document is
published in electronic format on CD Rom or is made available at a
publicly accessible website on the internet and notice of such
publication in electronic format on CD Rom or the availability of
the document on the website is published in the Gazette:
Provided that where an act or document is so published in
electronic format on CD Rom or is so made available on a publicly
accessible website on the internet, a hard copy thereof is made
available for public inspection during normal office hours at a
government department or office and notice of such availability is
also published in the Gazette.
