Recent challenges and developments in commercial law

In simple terms, commercial law is all about how business is regulated. The law regulates business in a number of ways and adopts a variety of devices and measures. Various laws promote and facilitate the carrying on of business activities as these activities which provide employment and generate wealth in the community. They include laws on shipping, aircraft, company law, intellectual property, international trade, financial services and tourism-related activities. All these activities are business activities carried out by persons or entities which the law deems to be traders.peer-reviewe

Issues in Maltese regulation : on the move and under stress

Regulation is a fascinating subject which affects many areas of commercial activities and which often plays a significant role in determining how these activities are carried out and by whom. Regulation in Malta is evolving but it also appears to be under stress. New regulatory structures are being set up as old structures find themselves questioned and re-drawn, often with ambiguous results and uncertain benefits. Some regulators are not as autonomous as some imagine them to be or indeed as the legislation itself would have envisaged them to be. Several politically appointed persons in leading regulatory positions are really occasional or accidental regulators rather than professional regulators. A few unlikely regulators still try too hard to please and to remain close to their political masters. This mindset inevitably distracts them from the higher mission of protecting the general interests of the community and the legitimate expectations of consumers. Governing boards are filled by political appointees, a method which does not guarantee competence or diligence. Several people occupy senior regulatory positions without enjoying adequate background or sufficient knowledge and competence. Like politicians, including ministers, they are not subjected to a fit and proper due diligence test, either upon their appointment or on an ongoing basis. A number of recent interesting developments in the local regulatory field are considered below.peer-reviewe

Consumer and financial services legislation - some reflections on the Maltese position

These past 20 years have witnessed very substantial developments in the legislation relating to consumer protection and the provision of financial services. During this period, the law in these two areas has evolved rather rapidly and beyond recognition. However, it is not always easy to decipher whether and how the two sets of laws dovetail with each other. It would be therefore interesting to explore whether the two sectors constitute a coherent framework and whether there are lessons that two sectors may learn from one another. Many of the legislative changes were homegrown, but significant influence has been predictably exerted by the island's moves towards accession to the European Union. Indeed, one may claim that in the past 10 years, EU law has become the most important inspiration for new legislation. Independently of the growing EU influence on both its formal and substantive aspects, the Maltese legal system already presents a sophisticated and comprehensive framework. It is also an increasingly complex framework. One can speculate whether the complexity of our legal framework may be a reflection of the varied foreign influences that have designed the island's history. Over the years, Malta has been ruled by a series of foreign powers too numerous to list. These have included the Romans, the Greeks, the Phoenicians, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Knights of St. John and, albeit for a few years, the French under Napoleon. For long stretches of its history, the island used to form part of the Italian mainland to its north. More recently, roughly between 1800 and 1964, Malta formed part of the British Empire. For all these reasons, Roman law, Italian law and English law have all contributed towards the development of Maltese legal rules and culture.peer-reviewe

The Malta Stock Exchange Tribunal and insider dealing - a note on the tribunal and the first three concluded cases

This article attempts to highlight some significant aspects of the first three cases submitted to the Malta Stack Exchange Tribunal. All these three cases have now been concluded and at the time of writing no proceedings are pending before this Tribunal. This may therefore be a good occasion to review the performance of this Tribunal and the effectiveness of our insider dealing law.peer-reviewe

1990-2005 : from insider dealing to market manipulation

Since 1st April 2005, the principal legislation on insider dealing and market manipulation is contained in the Prevention of Financial Markets Abuse Act (PFMA). This Act has transposed the EU Market Abuse Directive (MAD) and, in the process swept away the Insider Dealing and Market Abuse Offences Act of 1994. The paper provides a brief introduction to the development of insider dealing and market abuse legislation in Malta. It describes aspects of the local and EU background to the new Act and reviews some of its significant features .peer-reviewe

The Mayflower, the Rapsody and other recent company law cases

Company law means much more than the Companies Act of 1995. Other laws contribute important additions to the subject. Significant examples are the Malta Stock Exchange Act and the Investments Services Act. Another important part is also played by the type of advice that lawyers give to their clients and how these laws are generally interpreted and applied in practice. Court decisions are another potentially significant source of guidance and interpretation. They apply legal principles to the facts presented before the court by the parties in dispute.peer-reviewe

Combinatorial Tools for Regge Calculus

In this short note we briefly review some recent mathematical results relevant to the classical Regge Calculus evolution problem.Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX, no figures. To appear on the Proceedings of the 12th Italian Conference on General Relativity and Gravitational Physic