DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (USE CLASSES) ġ S.L.356.04 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 356.04
DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (USE CLASSES) 
ORDER
29th April, 1994
LEGAL NOTICE 53 of 1994, as amended by Legal Notices 70 of 2000
and 59 of 2004.
Title .
Classes) Order.
Definitions.
Amended by:
L.N. 70 of 2000;
L.N. 59 of 2004.
2. (1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise
requires, the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby
assigned to them:
Cap. 356.
"care" means such personal care as is given to people in need of
such care by reason of their being elderly, disabled, having a past
or present dependence on alcohol or drugs, or a past or present
mental disorder, and in Class 2 of the Schedule it also includes the
personal care of children and medical care and treatment;
"class" means a class specified in the Schedule;
S.L. 424.19
"dangerous substance'' means a substance, mixture or preparation
listed in the First Schedule, Part 2 of the Control of Major Accident
Hazards Regulations or fulfilling the criteria laid down in the First
Schedule, Part 3 of the said regulations and present as a raw
material, product, by-product, residue or intermediate, subject to
the exclusions in regulation 4(2) of the said regulations;
"day centre" means premises which are visited during the day for
social or recreational purposes or for the purposes of rehabilitation
or occupational training, and at which care is also provided;
"industrial process" means a process for or incidental to any of
the following purposes:
( a ) the making of any article or part of any article
(including a ship or any other vessel, or a film, video,
or sound recording);
( b ) the altering, repairing, maintaining, ornamenting,
finishing, cleaning, washing, packing, canning,
adapting for sale, breaking up, or demolition of any
article;
( c ) the getting, dressing, or treatment of minerals,
in the course of any trade or business other than agriculture, and
other than a use undertaken in or adjacent to a mine or quarry;
Cap. 202.
"M.D.C." means the Malta Development Corporation as
established by article 3 of the Malta Development Corporation Act;
S.L. 424.19
"Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations'' means the
Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations;
2 ġ S.L.356.04 DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (USE CLASSES)
"the Schedule" means the Schedule to this Order.
(2) In this Order, words and expressions defined in the Act
shall have the same meaning as they have in the Act.
Change of use not 
requiring a 
development 
permission.
3. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Order, where a
building, including land occupied with the building and used for
the same purposes, or land are used for a purpose in any class
specified in the Schedule, the use of that building or land for any
other purpose in the same class shall not be development, and a
development permission is not required except as provided in this
Order.
(2) A use which is included in and ordinarily incidental to any
use in a class specified in the Schedule is not excluded from the use
to which it is incidental merely because it is specified in the
Schedule as a separate use.
Uses not within a 
use class.
Amended by:
L.N. 59 of 2004.
4. Nothing in any class specified in the Schedule shall include
any use for any of the following:
( a ) amusement arcade or centre, or a funfair;
( b ) band club, social club, dance or wedding hall, or
discotheque;
( c ) sale of fuel for motor vehicles;
( d ) sale or display for sale of motor vehicles;
( e ) taxi business or for the hire of motor vehicles;
( f ) fireworks factories;
( g ) aqualung filler;
( h ) goldsmith or silversmith;
( i ) scrapyard or a yard for the breaking of motor vehicles;
( j ) quarry or mine or for the storage, distribution or
processing of minerals;
( k ) disposal of any waste materials either on the land or at
sea;
( l ) manufacturing, processing, keeping or storing of a
dangerous substance, in a building or on land;
( m ) washing or cleaning of clothes or fabrics in coin
operated machines or on premises at which the goods
to be cleaned are received direct from the visiting
public;
( n ) hotels;
( o ) shooting range or shooting club or for any other use
involving firearms;
( p ) conference centre;
( q ) racing or practicing of motor vehicles, induding
offroad vehicles.
Change of use of 
part of a building 
or land used as a 
dwelling.
5. In the case of a building used for a purpose within Class 1
(Dwellings) of the Schedule, the use of the building which results
in an increase or decrease in the number of dwelling units in which
DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (USE CLASSES) ġ S.L.356.04 3
the dwelling building was previously used, shall be development.
Conditions on a 
development 
permission.
6. A provision of this Order shall not apply where its
operation is expressly excluded by a condition or conditions, or by
a limitation, imposed on a development permission in accordance
with article 33(2) of the Act.
Limitation on 
operation of certain 
classes.
Amended by:
L.N. 70 of 2000.
7. The provisions of this Order shall have effect in relation to
Classes 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 only where the use from
which the change is to be made to another use within the same class
has been permitted by a specific grant of a development permission
made after the coming into force of this Order on an application for
development in accordance with Part IV of the Act, except that
changes within Classes 11 and 12 on an industrial estate managed
or run by the M.D.C. shall not be subject to the provisions of this
article.
Development on 
industrial estates.
Added by:
L.N. 70 of 2000.
8. On an industrial estate managed or run by the M.D.C., the
change from a use in Class 12 to a use in Class 11 and from a use in
any of Classes 13 to 16 to a use in Class 12 shall not be considered
as development.
SCHEDULE
(Article 3) 
CLASS 1 - Dwellings
Use as a residence, whether or not as a sole or main residence, by
any of the following:
( a ) a single person or by people living together as a
family;
( b ) not more than six residents living together, including a
household where care is provided for residents;
( c ) a resident concurrently with his or her occupation or
business, provided that, in the opinion of the
Authority, the occupation is compatible with the
residential use, and it:
(1) can be carried on in any residential area without
detriment to the amenity of that area by reason
of noise, vibrations, smell, fumes, smoke, soot,
ash, dust, grit or visual impact; and
(2) does not generate vehicular traffic or parking of
a type or amount which is detrimental to the
amenity of the area in which it is conducted; and
(3) does not involve the presence on the premises of
more than three persons engaged in the business
(induding the proprietors) or in consequence of
the business, at any one time.
CLASS 2 - Residential Institutions
Use for either of the following:
( a ) residential accommodation and care to people in need
4 ġ S.L.356.04 DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (USE CLASSES)
of care other than a use within Class 1 (Dwellings)
hereof;
( b ) hospital or nursing home.
CLASS 3 - Hostels
Use for any of the following:
( a ) boarding house;
( b ) guest house;
( c ) hostel,
where no significant element of care is provided, but excluding
premises licensed for the sale of alcoholic liquor to persons other
than residents.
CLASS 4 - Shops
Use for any of the following:
( a ) retail sale of goods
( b ) Post Office
( c ) sale of tickets
( d ) travel Agency
( e ) hairdressing
( f ) direction of funerals
( g ) display of goods for sale
( h ) hiring out of domestic goods or personal goods or
articles
( i ) reception of goods to be washed, cleaned, or repaired
where the sale, display, or service is principally to
visiting members of the public.
CLASS 5 - Financial, Professional, and other Offices
Use for any of the following:
( a ) financial services
( b ) professional services (including doctors, lawyers,
dentists)
( c ) any other offices of a comparable nature.
CLASS 6 - Food and Drink
Use for any of the following:
( a ) sale of hot or cold food or drink for consumption on or
off the premises
( b ) gelateria
( c ) bar
( d ) restaurant.
CLASS 7 - Non-Residential Institutions
Use, other than residential use, for any of the following:
( a ) display of works of art other than for sale or for hire
DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (USE CLASSES) ġ S.L.356.04 5
( b ) museum
( c ) public library or public reading room
( d ) public hall or exhibition hall
( e ) places in connection with public worship or religious
instruction, or the social or recreational activities of a
religious body.
CLASS 8 - Education
Use for either -
( a ) kindergarten, creche, day nursery or day centre; or
( b ) residential or non-residential school, college, or
training centre.
CLASS 9 - Assembly and Leisure
Use for any of the following:
( a ) cinema
( b ) concert hall or theatre
( c ) bingo hall or casino
( d ) swimming bath or pool, skating rink, gymnasium,
health club, sauna, sports hall, or other indoor or
outdoor land-based sports or recreations not involving
motorised vehicles or firearms.
CLASS 10 - Marine Leisure
Use for either:
( a ) mooring boats and/or as a marina; or
( b ) diving, sailing, or windsurfing school or other
marine-based sport or recreation.
CLASS 11 - Business and Light Industry
Use for any of the following:
( a ) research, testing and development of products or
processes;
( b ) craft business;
( c ) any light industry (other than an industry falling
within Classes 12, 13, 14,15 and 16)
provided that, if any such use is carried out in a residential area, in
the opinion of the Authority -
(1) it can be carried out without detriment to the
amenity of that area by reason of noise,
vibrations, smell, fumes, smoke, soot, ash, dust,
grit, or visual impact; and
(2) it does not generate vehicular traffic or parking
of a type or amount which is detrimental to the
amenity of the area in which it is conducted; and
(3) it does not result in a significant increase in the
number of employees previously engaged in the
former use.
6 ġ S.L.356.04 DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (USE CLASSES)
CLASS 12 - General Industrial
Use for the carrying on of an industrial process other than one
falling within Class 11 (Business and Light Industry), or within
Classes 13 to 16 (Special Industrial Group) of this Schedule.
CLASS 13 - Special Industrial Group A
Use for any of the following:
( a ) smelting, calcining, sintering, or reducing ores,
minerals, concentrates or mattes
( b ) converting, refining, reheating, annealing, hardening,
melting, carburising, forging, or casting metals
or-alloys other than pressure diecasting
( c ) recovering of metal from scrap, crosses, or ashes
( d ) galvanising
( e ) pickling or treating metal in acid
( f ) chromium plating
except where the process is ancillary to the getting, dressing or
treatment of minerals and is undertaken in or adjacent to a quarry
or mine.
CLASS 14 - Special Industrial Group B
Use for any of the following:
( a ) durning lime or dolomite
( b ) producing zinc oxide, cement or alumina
( c ) foaming, crushing, screening or heating mineral or
slag
( d ) processing pulverised fuel ash by heat
( e ) producing carbonate of lime or hydrated lime
( f ) producing inorganic pigments by calcining, roasting or
grinding,
except where the process is ancillary to the getting, dressing or
treatment of minerals and is undertaken in or adjacent to a quarry
or mine.
CLASS 15 - Special Industrial Group C
Use for any of the following:
( a ) distilling, refining, or blending oils (other than
petroleum or petroleum products)
( b ) producing or using cellulose or using other pressure
sprayed metal finishes (other than in vehicle repair
workshops in connection with minor repairs, or
application of plastic powder by the use of fluidised
bed and electrostatic spray techniques)
( c ) boiling linseed oil or running gum
( d ) processes involving the use of hot pitch or bitumen in
the manufacture of roofing felt at temperatures not
exceeding 220°C or the manufacture of coated
DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (USE CLASSES) ġ S.L.356.04 7
roadstone
( e ) stoving enamelled ware
( f ) producing aliphatic esters of the lower fatty acids,
butyric acid, caramel, hexamine, iodoform, naphthols,
resin products (excluding plastic moulding or
extrusion operations and producing plastic sheets,
rods, tubes, filaments, fibres, or optical components
produced by casting, calenering, moulding, shaping or
extrusion), salicylic acid or sulphonated organic
compounds
( g ) producing rubber from scrap
( h ) chemical processes in which cholorophenols or
chlorocresols are used as intermediates
( i ) manufacturing acetylene from calcium carbide
( j ) manufacturing, recovering, or using pyridine or
picolines, any methyl or ethyl amine, or acrylates.
CLASS 16 - Special Industrial Group D
Use for the carrying on of an industrial process which uses
animal remains as the primary input or as part of the process of
manufacture.
CLASS 17 - Storage and Distribution
Use for storage (other than the storage, on land or on water, of
boats) or as a distribution centre.
CLASS 18 - Agriculture
The carrying on of agriculture which involves the intensive
raising of crops or animals, other than the change of use of
buildings for the intensive raising of animals where such use will
be within 400 metres of a use which falls into Classes 1 to 11 of
this Schedule.
CLASS 19 - Boatyards
Use for any of the following:
( a ) storing boats (other than in a marina);
( b ) boat building;
( c ) boat repair.
CLASS 20 - Aquaculture
Use for the hatching or fattening of fish.
