Government Notices published in Government Gazette No. 21,124 of 3rd October 2023

The President of Malta has been pleased to approve the retirement of Lieutenant Peter Paul Vella from the Armed Forces of Malta Individual Reserve of Officers, with effect from the 2nd October, 2023.

IT is notified for general information that the following Legal Notices were published in the Supplement to the Government Gazette No. 21,123 of 29th September, 2023 (Legal Notices 224 to 225).

​L.N. 224 of 2023: Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Cap. 452); Posting of Workers in Malta (Amendment) Regulations, 2023.

L.N. 225 of 2023: Attorney General Ordinance (Cap. 90), State Advocate Act (Cap. 603); Prosecution of Offences (Transitory Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations, 2023.

Appointment of New Member of the Councilof the Counselling Profession

IT is hereby notified for general information that in exercise of the powers conferred by article 4 of the Counselling Profession Act, (Cap. 538), and for the purpose of that Act, the Minister for Social Policy and Children's Rights has approved the appointment of Ms Marthese Vassallo as member of the Council of the Counselling Profession instead of Mr Josef Mizzi.

​This appointment shall remain valid until 2nd October, 2025.

THE Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for the Economy, European Funds and Lands has approved the following acting appointment:

BY VIRTUE of the powers conferred by regulations 4(3) and 4(4) of the Conservation of Wild Birds (Declaration of the Autumn Hunting Season for Turtle Dove) Regulations, 2021, the Minister  for the Environment, Energy and Enterprise  in  conjunction  with  the  Minister  for Gozo, notifies that the overall seasonal bag limit for the Turtle Dove has been reached and that, with immediate effect, the hunting season for the Turtle Dove is closed.

Competition Act (Cap. 379)

IN accordance with article 30(3) of the Competition Act (Cap. 379), the Minister for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights is making the following declaration with respect to a service of general economic interest (SGEI):

Whereas:

a. WHEREAS the Government of Malta has long acknowledged the importance of the timely, efficient and consistent provision of services relating to the organization, management and operation of integrated systems for waste management, including integrated systems for minimisation, collection, transport, sorting, reuse, utilization, recycling, treatment and disposal of solid and hazardous and non-hazardous waste in the best interest of environmental protection and the health and well-being of the residents of Malta as well as for the overall sustainability and competitiveness of Malta;

b. WHEREAS the Government of Malta is committed by EU targets, in particular those found in Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives (OJ [2008] L 312/3), Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste (OJ [1999] L 182/1), European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste (OJ [1994] L 365/10), Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (OJ [2012] L 197/38), and by national law, strategies and policies, in particular those found in the Waste Management Plan for the Maltese Islands 2014-2020 and the Long Term Waste Management Plan 2021 - 2030 (hereinafter “the Waste Management Plans"), Malta's Partnership Agreement 2014-2020 and Malta's Partnership Agreements on EU Funds 2021-2027, to promote a better and more integrated approach to waste management, to prevent and reduce the quantity and hazard of waste produced in Malta, to foster higher levels of re-use, to increase the rate of recycling and recovery, and to provide for safe disposal of residues that cannot otherwise be managed efficiently and consistently;

c. WHEREAS the Government of Malta recognises that in order to achieve the required sustainability in the waste sector, investment and effort has to be targeted at reducing the volume of waste going to landfill by diverting recoverable materials away from landfills, encouraging increased waste separation at source and improving waste management efficiency through bulking of waste prior to exporting;

d. WHEREAS the high dependence on landfilling poses a significant challenge within the Maltese Islands particularly due to the lack of physical space available as well as the lack of economies of scale required to make interventions in this sector economically viable and sustainable;

e. WHEREAS the Government of Malta is aware that some solid municipal waste consisting of wood, tyres, expanded polystyrene, gypsum, mattresses, textiles, flat glass and waste from electric and electronic equipment, hereinafter referred to collectively as “the waste streams", are either landfilled or dispatched for export in an inefficient manner on account of a lack of bulking of these waste streams;

f. WHEREAS Government of Malta believes that to ensure the highest possible prevention, re-use, recycling, recovery of waste and disposal in line with the waste hierarchy principle under the Waste Framework Directive, to improve waste management efficiency and capacity by deviating recoverable materials away from landfill, and to make efficient use of available land space, a facility that accepts the waste streams is necessary so as to segregate the collected materials, carry out some limited pre-treatment where essential, store, package and dispatch for export the waste material;

g. WHEREAS the Government of Malta is aware that forecasts show that, in the absence of such a facility, the pressures on the use of land for waste disposal are set to grow as all the waste streams are expected to register positive growth rates, albeit at a declining rate, until 2030;

h. WHEREAS the Government of Malta believes that the establishment and operation of such a multi-material recovery facility, including the automated glass sorting line, hereinafter “the MMRF", pursues general environmental protection principles of precaution and sustainability, technical feasibility and economic viability, and the protection of resources and human health;

i. WHEREAS the Government of Malta believes that the establishment and operation of the MMRF pursues a public interest which is real;

j. WHEREAS the Government of Malta believes that public intervention is necessary to carry out the following activities:

Design, construct and commission the MMRF;

Manage, operate and maintain efficiently and effectively the MMRF;

Receive and accept the waste streams at the MMRF;

Segregate the collected materials, carry out some limited pre-treatment where      essential, shred and package;

Provide temporary storage for flammable and non-flammable packed material; and

Load in containers and dispatch for export or other destination the waste material in accordance with the objectives of this declaration;

altogether hereinafter referred to as “the Public Service Obligations";

k. WHEREAS, the Government of Malta has taken the view that the operation of an automated glass sorting line is an integral and inseparable part of the MMRF and further that it is necessary for the attainment of the objective and goals of the Public Service Obligations;

l. WHEREAS the Government of Malta, believes that it will not be commercially viable for any operator to assume the Public Service Obligations or to assume them to the same extent and that the Public Service Obligations will not be provided satisfactorily and under conditions such as price, objective quality characteristics, continuity and access to services, consistent with the public interest by undertakings operating under normal market conditions;

m. WHEREAS the Public Service Obligations are within the objectives of the Waste Management Plan;

n. WHERAS the Public Service Obligations fall within the objectives of Operational Programme I, entitled Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges, which recognizes the importance of increasing recycling of waste and reducing the volume of waste going to landfill by investing in waste management related infrastructure through Priority Axis 10, entitled Investing in a more environmentally-friendly society;

o. WHEREAS Wasteserv Malta Limited, a limited liability company incorporated under the Laws of Malta with company registration number C30560 and with its registered office at Ecohive Complex, Tul il-Kosta, Naxxar NXR9030, Malta, hereinafter referred to as “WSM", is an entity wholly owned by the Government of Malta through its shareholding in the Malta Investment Management Company Limited (C9588), known as “MIMCOL" and the Malta Government Investments Limited (C10175) known as “MGI";

p. WHEREAS WSM has, inter alia, been incorporated with the object of organizing, managing and operating integrated systems for waste management including integrated systems for minimisation, collection, transport, sorting, reuse, utilisation, recycling, treatment and disposal of solid and hazardous waste and also operates integrated systems for export of waste to destinations outside Malta;

q. WHEREAS WSM ensures that waste management systems continue to promote in Malta the principles of sustainable development, the proximity principle and self-sufficiency, the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, the principle that any environmental damage which might occur should as a first option be rectified at source, the waste hierarchy principle, the application of the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) and the principle of producer responsibility;

r. WHEREAS WSM is committed towards establishing and maintaining innovative waste management infrastructure aimed at protecting the environment and society and, through on-going communication and effort, aims at promoting waste minimisation and recycling while also encouraging all stakeholders to take pride in being committed to sustainable waste management;

s. WHEREAS WSM develops sites and facilities in accordance to local and international legislation in order to ensure sustainable waste management and manages, operates, supervises and controls the provision of major waste management facilities and related services throughout Malta;

t. WHEREAS WSM in its operations ensures that waste management in Malta takes place in accordance with EU standards, in particular, by ensuring that it is carried out without endangering human health and without harming the environment;

u. WHEREAS WSM is therefore in the opinion of the Government of Malta currently the only undertaking capable and best placed to construct and operate the MMRF in Malta effectively, efficiently, at the least cost to the community and in compliance with all the regulations and policies relating to solid municipal waste management at national and EU level and the only undertaking capable and best placed to implement the Waste Management Plans;

v. WHEREAS the waste management sector has remained a rather immature and underdeveloped sector in Malta with no undertaking showing an interest in entering and persisting on the market, apart from WSM, which acts as an operator of last resort catering for waste streams which generally are not profitable;

w. WHEREAS, the Government of Malta thus believes that the Public Service Obligations are best achieved through an entrustment granted to WSM;

​x. WHEREAS, in particular, the Public Service Obligations qualify as SGEI within the terms of Commission Decision of 20 December 2011 on the application of Article 106(2) of the Treaty on  the Functioning of the European Union to State Aid in the form of public service compensation granted to certain undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of a general economic interest (Commission Decision 2012/21/EU, OJ [2012] L 7/3) and the compensation payable by the Government of Malta for the Public Service Obligations complies with Commission Decision 2012/21/EU;

y. WHEREAS the entrustment and the conditions applicable to the entrustment have been assessed under the provisions of Commission Decision 2012/21/EU and satisfy all the provisions found therein and comply with the requirements flowing from the TFEU and from EU environmental legislation, so that, in line with Commission Decision 2012/21/EU, are compatible with the internal market and not subject to State aid notification;

z. WHEREAS the Public Service Obligations are essential in terms of environmental protection, public health and well-being and are currently not being provided on the market on a commercial basis and would not be easily and/or efficiently provided by a private operator exclusively on the basis of commercial considerations;

aa. WHEREAS there exists no other more suitable measure available to the Government of Malta to achieve the same objective that will be achieved by the Public Service Obligations;

Now therefore by virtue of this declaration, in terms of article 30(3) of the Competition Act, the Minister for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations and Consumer Rights, who is responsible for competition matters, on behalf of the Government of Malta, declares the Public Service Obligations to be SGEI.

Declares further that the Public Service Obligations are being entrusted to WSM.

​Declares further that such entrustment is subject to, amongst others, the following obligations:

1. WSM shall establish the MMRF adjacent to the grounds of the Civic Amenity site in Hal Far with the exclusion of the automated glass sorting line which will be established at the Sant' Antnin Mechanical and Biological Treatment plant in Marsascala.

2. WSM has undertaken to provide the Public Service Obligations in line with the requirements of applicable EU and national law and the waste management policies and plans of Malta, irrespective of the commercial viability of the Public Service Obligations provided. 

3. The period of entrustment is of twenty (20) years effective as from 4 September 2020. This period is required to amortise the investment made by WSM in line with generally accepted accounting principles and with Commission Decision 2012/21/EU.

4. In order to carry out the entrustment relating to the provision of the Public Service Obligations, the Government of Malta has made and undertakes to make advances in favour of WSM by way of compensation. Such compensation shall meet the requirements set in Commission Decision 2012/21/EU. In particular, WSM cannot receive compensation in excess of what is necessary to cover the net costs incurred by WSM in discharging the Public Service Obligations, including a reasonable profit and as established in Article 5 of Commission Decision 2012/21/EU. All revenues earned from the Public Service Obligations shall be taken into account for the purposes of calculating the amount of compensation due. Furthermore, the compensation advanced to WSM shall be applied by WSM solely and exclusively for the provision of the Public Service Obligations.

​5. WSM shall ensure that its accounts shall have due regard to the principle of differentiation of costs distinguishing between the costs and revenue relating to the provision of the Public Service Obligations from the rest of the services provided which do not qualify as Public Service Obligations and from any economic activity undertaken by WSM.

6. Checks and audits shall be carried out in order to ensure that the compensation granted to WSM for the operation of the Public Service Obligations meets the requirements set in Commission Decision 2012/21/EU and if at any time it transpires that WSM has been overcompensated by the Government of Malta, WSM shall be liable to refund such overcompensation to Government. Such checks shall be carried out regularly, but, in any case, at least, every three years during the period of entrustment and at the end of that period.

7. If at any time, it transpires that WSM has been overcompensated by the Government of Malta, WSM shall be liable to refund such overcompensation to Government of Malta within ninety (90) days from the publication of the audited accounts. Where overcompensation results, the parameters for the calculation of the compensation shall be updated to avoid further episodes of overcompensation in subsequent years. However, if the overcompensation does not exceed ten per centum (10%) of the amount of the average annual compensation, such overcompensation may be carried forward to the next period and deducted from the amount of compensation payable in respect of that period.

The total cost of public support is estimated at €12.62 million, which, averaged over a twenty year period of project development and operation, entails an annual average of €0.63 million.

8. The capital investment financing plan will be determined according to the funding gap methodology as follows:

​EU grant (in terms of the European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020): €10.72 million

National co-financing funded by the Government of Malta: €1.89 million           

Capital injection by WSM: €13.14 million

Total funding: €25.76 million

Over the five-year period of construction, the MMRF would therefore receive €15.03 million of public support.

9. In the first nine years of operation, the MMRF will receive €6.2 million by way of support from the Government of Malta in order to sustain its operations. Support is needed at €1.1 million in the first year of operation, increasing to €1.3 million by the fourth year of operation and then declining to €0.005 million by the ninth year. From the tenth year of operation to the fifteenth, the net revenue from the MMRF will allow WSM to affect a restitution of GoM support for an aggregate of €6.0 million. The operational support received from the Government of Malta over the fifteen-year period of operations would thus amount to €0.3 million in aggregate, or an average annual amount of €19,000.

10. The internal rate of return to WSM on its €13.1 million contribution to the capital investment should amount to a negative of 5.13% per annum, which is within the limit of the 1% + swap rate.

THE Commissioner of Police, in terms of articles 7 and 8 of the Private Guards and Community Officers Act 1996, hereby notifies that the following applications as mentioned hereunder have been received:

Application for licence of aPrivate Guard

Any person may, within one month from the publication of this notice, object in writing to the Commissioner about the issue of the above licences on any of the grounds listed in section 10 of the Private Guards and Community Officers Act 1996, which are:

(a) where the applicant or any officer of the applicant or any person who has an effective control of the services to be provided by the applicant.

(i) has been convicted in Malta or elsewhere of any crime against the safety of the state, or of any crime of voluntary harm or injury to any person or any crime against property or public trust or any other serious crime; or

(ii) has been declared bankrupt or his financial position is precarious or otherwise renders the applicant unsuitable; or

(iii) has been discharged from the police or armed forces or the prison services because of any offence or other misbehaviour; or

(iv) is a public officer or a member of the police or armed forces or the prison services; or

​(b) when information is available which is in the public interest; or

(c) where the applicant does not possess the necessary qualifications as may be prescribed by or under the Act.

IN exercise of the powers conferred  by  Subsidiary Legislation 363.10, the Prime Minister has directed the naming  of  the  streets  as  specified  and  indicated hereunder.

ĦAL LIJA

KORREZZJONI B'RIFERENZA għan-Notifikazzjoni tal-Gvern Nru. 1247 tat-12 ta' Settembru, 2023, Triq San Alwiġi Consaga, għandha tinqara TRIQ SAN ALWIĠI GONZAGA.

THE Commissioner of Inland Revenue notifies that, on the date shown hereunder, the price of gold and silver on which valuations made by the Consul for Goldsmiths and Silversmiths are based has been fixed for the purposes of article 14 of the said Act as follows:

Sant'Anton Gardens

It is notified for general information that as enabled by Section 2 of the Public Gardens (Closing) Ordinance (Cap. 34) the Director of Agriculture has approved that Sant'Anton Gardens will be closed from 7.00 a.m. till noon on Wednesday, 4th October, 2023, and will be under the control of GEB Landscaping.