INVESTMENT SERVICES ACT (EXEMPTION) [ S.L.370.02 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 370.02
INVESTMENT SERVICES ACT (EXEMPTION) 
REGULATIONS
23rd September, 1994
LEGAL NOTICE 6 of 1995, as amended by Legal Notices 95 of 1995 and
351 of 2002.
Citation.
Act (Exemption) Regulations.
Interpretation.
Cap. 370.
2. Any reference in these regulations to the Act is a reference
to the Investment Services Act, and the provisions of article 2 of
the Act shall also apply to these regulations.
Investment 
services 
exemptions.
Amended by:
L.N. 95 of 1995;
L.N. 351 of 2002.
3. (1) The following persons are hereby being exempted for
the purposes of the requirement for a licence for investment
services in terms of article 3 of the Act:
( a ) the Central Bank of Malta;
( b ) the competent authority and any person who is
appointed thereby in the course and for the purpose of
its regulatory and supervisory functions;
( c ) a liquidator or a curator in bankruptcy acting in the
course of the liquidation or bankruptcy;
( d ) a person dealing as principal, in terms of paragraph 1
of the First Schedule to the Act, for his own account as
long as he does not hold himself out as being in the
business of buying instruments with a view to selling
them, nor solicits members of the public to deal with
him on the basis of, or consequent to, such
representations;
( e ) a person dealing as an agent in terms of paragraph 1 of
the First Schedule to the Act, or arranging deals in
terms of paragraph 2 of the First Schedule to the Act,
or giving advice in terms of paragraph 5 of the First
Schedule to the Act, as long as such person does not do
any of the following:
(i) receive, directly or indirectly, any remuneration
or other benefit for the service;
(ii) hold himself, out as providing an investment
service; or
(iii) solicit members of the public to take such
services;
( f ) a company providing an investment service to another
company in the same group, but only if:
(i) the service does not consist of acting in any
capacity in relation to a collective investment
scheme; and
2 [ S.L.370.02 INVESTMENT SERVICES ACT (EXEMPTION)
(ii) the company does not hold itself out as
providing an investment service and it does not
solicit members of the public to take such
services; and
(iii) the provision of the services is for the purpose of
the group; and
(iv) the service would not have required to be
covered by a licence under the Act if it had been
provided by the company to which it is
provided;
( g ) a company operating a scheme approved by the
competent authority where the service consists of
dealing or arranging to deal in instruments, in terms of
paragraphs 1 or 2 of the First Schedule to the Act, for
its own employees, former employees, their
dependents, or for employees’ former employees or
their dependents of companies in the same group, in
instruments issued by the company or other companies
in the group and any other instruments as may be
approved by the competent authority;
( h ) a person arranging deals or giving advice, in terms of
paragraphs 2 or 5 of the First Schedule to the Act, in
the course of lawfully carrying on the profession of
advocate, certified public accountant or certified
public accountant and auditor but only if:
(i) the arranging of deals or giving of advice is
limited to what is necessary in the course of
carrying on that profession and excludes
anything which induces or is intended to induce
a client to acquire, continue to hold, or to
dispose of an instrument; and
(ii) the person arranging the deal or giving advice is
not remunerated additionally for providing the
investment service, does not hold himself out as
providing an investment service, and does not
solicit members of the public to take such
services;
( i ) a person arranging deals or giving advice in terms of
paragraphs 2 or 5 of the First Schedule to the Act, in
the course of lawfully carrying on the profession of
certified public accountant or certified public
accountant and auditor, but only where the transaction
or advice relates to an acquisition or a disposal or a
subscription or a scheme or an arrangement in respect
of instruments in a private company which is not a
collective investment scheme;
( j ) a person dealing as an agent in terms of paragraph 1 of
the First Schedule to the Act, in the course of lawfully
carrying on the profession of advocate, certified public
accountant or certified public accountant and auditor
but only if:
INVESTMENT SERVICES ACT (EXEMPTION) [ S.L.370.02 3
(i) the transaction is in respect of instruments in a
private company which is not a collective
investment scheme; and
(ii) no advice is given and no discretion is exercised
in respect of the transaction;
( k ) a person resident outside Malta providing management
and, or advice in terms of paragraph 3 and, or 5 of the
First Schedule to the Act to a collective investment
scheme licensed under the Act where the competent
authority is satisfied that such person is of sufficient
standing and repute;
( l ) a person giving advice, in terms of paragraph 5 of the
First Schedule to the Act, in the course of expressing
an opinion or view in a newspaper, journal, magazine
or other periodical publication, or television or radio
broadcast, made, distributed, or received in or from
Malta, but only if:
(i) the opinion or view is not directed at particular
instruments; and
(ii) no person involved in the making or distribution
of the publication or broadcast stands to receive
any remuneration or other benefit, directly or
indirectly, as a result of anyone acting on the
advice; and
(iii) the opinion or view is not, and is not part of, an
advertisement or promotion requiring approval
under article 11 of the Act;
Cap. 386.
( m ) a person who acts as a registrar of a company’s
members or debenture holders, in terms of paragraph 3
of the First Schedule to the Act, as required by the
Companies Act, except where the company concerned
is a collective investment scheme;
Cap. 371.
Cap. 376.
( n ) a person licensed in terms of the Banking Act, or a
person licensed under the Financial Institutions Act, to
the extent that the investment service provided by such
person is that of underwriting instruments as principal
or agent or that of arranging for another person to
underwrite instruments, in terms of paragraphs 1 or 2
of the First Schedule to the Act;
Cap. 371.
Cap. 376.
( o ) a person licensed in terms of the Banking Act, or the
Financial Institutions Act, to the extent that, in the
course of the business that the person is authorised to
carry out under either of these Acts, that person is a
party to the purchase and sale of securities to third
parties, in a transaction which involves the sale of
securities to be repurchased or the purchase of
securities to be resold, at an agreed future date and
price;
( p ) a person, being an individual, who acts as manager, in
terms of paragraph 3 of the First Schedule to the Act,
in relation to a portfolio which includes instruments,
4 [ S.L.370.02 INVESTMENT SERVICES ACT (EXEMPTION)
for his spouse, descendants and ascendants in the
direct line and their relative spouses, or his brothers
and sisters, as long as such portfolio is owned by the
person to whom such services are provided and does
not constitute a collective investment scheme, and as
long as the person providing the service does not do
any of the following:
(i) receive, directly or indirectly, any remuneration
or other benefit for the service;
(ii) hold himself out as providing an investment
service; or
(iii) solicit members of the public to take such
services;
( q ) a person who acts as manager, in terms of paragraph 3
of the First Schedule to the Act, of a portfolio which
includes instruments belonging to him and to no other
person, as long as:
(i) such portfolio has not been established for
investment purposes in the interest of other
beneficiaries where such interest is legally
enforceable; and
(ii) such portfolio does not constitute a collective
investment scheme.
(2) The exemptions laid down in paragraphs ( f ), ( g ), ( k ), and
( q ) shall not be automatically operative but their applicability shall
be subject to a determination in writing by the competent authority
that the requested exemption applies.
Collective 
investment scheme 
exemptions.
Amended by:
L.N. 351 of 2002.
4. (1) The following collective investment schemes are
hereby being exempted for the purposes of the requirement for a
licence for collective investment schemes in terms of article 4 of
the Act:
( a ) a scheme involving participants, each of which carries
on a business other than that which constitutes an
investment service and enters into the arrangement for
commercial purposes related to that business;
( b ) a scheme which operates according to the principle of
risk spreading or in respect of which the contributions
of the participants and the profits or income out of
which payments are to be made to them are pooled, but
only if the general purpose of the scheme is
commercial and not for investment purposes;
( c ) a scheme approved by the competent authority
operated by a company for its own employees, former
employees and their dependents, or for employees,
former employees, or their dependents, of companies
in the same group, in instruments issued by a company
or companies within that group and any other
instruments as may be approved by the competent
authority.
INVESTMENT SERVICES ACT (EXEMPTION) [ S.L.370.02 5
(2) The exemptions laid down in this regulation shall not be
automatically operative but their applicability shall be subject to a
determination in writing by the competent authority that the
requested exemption applies.
Definition of 
expressions.
Amended by:
L.N. 351 of 2002.
5. ( a ) For the purposes of the exemptions in regulation 3( f )
and ( g ), and of the exemption in regulation 4( c ), the
expression "in the same group", in relation to any
company, means any body corporate which is that
company’s subsidiary or parent company, or a
subsidiary of that company’s parent company, and the
expression "parent company" means a company which:
(i) has a majority of the members’ voting rights in
another undertaking (a subsidiary); or
(ii) has the right to appoint or remove a majority of
the members of the board of directors or persons
entrusted with the administration of another
undertaking (a subsidiary) and is at the same
time a member of that undertaking.
Cap. 386.
( b ) For the purposes of the exemptions in regulation 3( i )
and ( j ), the expression "private company" has the
meaning given to it in the Companies Act.
