Cap. 510 чл. 9Compositionofthe Board. Cap. 321. Duties of the Secretary. Persons not eligible to hold office. Cap. 13.

(1) The Board shall be composed as follows:

(a) the Chairman, who shall be appointed by the Minister, on being satisfied that the person has the requisite qualifications and experience and who may also occupy any other post within the Authority;

(b) not less than seven and not more than ten other members, to be appointed by the Minister, at least seven of them being the following:-

(i) one member holding the warrant to practise as advocate with seven years experience and preferably with specialisation in competition law and, or in consumer law;

(ii) one member holding an economics degree from an approved university with seven years experience and qualifications, preferably in industrial organisation and, or behavioural economics;

(iii) one member holding a warrant, issued in accordance with the Inġiniera Act, to practise the profession of engineer, with seven years experience;

(iv) one member holding a warrant to practise as pharmacist with seven years experience preferably in the regulation of medicinal products and pharmaceutical activities;

(v) one member, holding the warrant to practise as a certified public accountant with seven years experience;

(vi) one member, after consultation with the constituted bodies representing national employers’ organisations sitting in the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development; and

(vii) one member, after consultation with recognised national consumer associations: Provided that in the eventuality that there should be no such association the Minister may appoint a temporary member from the workers’ organisations until such time wherein a member representing a national consumer association is nominated; and

(c) one of the members as appointed in paragraph (b)(i) to

(v) shall be appointed as Deputy Chairman by the Minister.

(2) The Deputy Chairman shall have all the powers and perform all the functions of the Chairman during the latter’s absence or inability to act as Chairman or while the Chairman is on vacation or during any vacancy in the office of Chairman, or alternatively the Minister may also, in any circumstances aforesaid, appoint another person to act as Chairman.

(3) The members of the Board shall be appointed by the Minister for a term of one year or for such longer period as may be specified in the instrument of appointment, subject to a maximum of three years and shall be eligible for reappointment.

(4) (a) The Board shall designate one of the officers of the

Authority to act as secretary for such period as it shall deem appropriate.

(b) It shall be the duty of the secretary to make the necessary preparations for the meetings of the Board and to keep minutes of those meetings.

(5) (a) A person shall not be eligible to be appointed or to continue to hold office as a member of the Board if that person:-

(i) is a Minister, Parliamentary Secretary, a member of the House of Representatives, a member of any Local Council or a member of the European Parliament; or

(ii) is a Judge or a Magistrate; or

(iii) is legally incapacitated or interdicted; or

(iv) has been declared bankrupt or has made a composition or arrangement with his creditors, so long as he has not been rehabilitated to trade in terms of the Commercial Code; or

(v) has been found guilty by any competent court of any offence involving fraud or other dishonesty, or has contravened any provision of law designed for protecting members of the public against financial loss due to dishonesty, incompetence or malpractice by persons involved in business activities or in carrying on a profession, or has engaged in any business practice appearing to the Minister to be deceitful or oppressive or otherwise improper (whether unlawful or not) or which otherwise reflects discredit on his method of conducting business or his profession, or has been found guilty of any offence against this Act or any other Act that the Authority administers or any regulations made thereunder; or

(vi) has a financial or other interest in any enterprise or activity which is likely to affect the discharge of his functions: Provided that the Minister may determine that the person’s interest is not likely to affect the discharge of his functions and upon such determination that person shall be qualified to hold the office of member of the Authority provided that the declared interest and the Minister’s determination are published in the Gazette; or

(vii) is otherwise not a fit and proper person to hold that office in accordance with paragraph (b).

(b) In determining whether a person is a fit and proper person, the Minister shall have regard to that person’s probity, competence and soundness of judgment for fulfilling the responsibilities of that office, to the diligence with which he is fulfilling or is likely to fulfil those responsibilities and to whether the interests of any person are, or are likely to be in any way threatened, by his holding that office.

(c) Any person whom the Minister has appointed or proposes to appoint as a member of the Board shall, whenever requested by the Minister to do so, furnish to him such information as the Minister considers necessary for the performance of the Minister’s duties under paragraphs (a) and (b).

(d) A member of the Board may be relieved from office by the Minister on the ground of inability to perform the functions of his office, whether due to infirmity of mind or of body or to any other cause, or of misbehaviour; and for the purposes of this paragraph, repeated and unjustified non-attendance at meetings may be deemed to amount to misbehaviour.

(e) The names of all the members of the Board and any change in such membership shall be published in the Gazette.

(f) Any member of the Board may resign from office by a letter addressed to the Minister.

(6) The Chairman and the other members of the Board may be paid such honoraria as the Minister may determine.

(7) Any member of the Board who has any direct or indirect interest in any matter made or proposed to be made by the Board, not being an interest which disqualifies such member from remaining a member, shall, not later than the first meeting held after the relevant circumstances have come to his knowledge, disclose the nature of his interest to the Board, and the member having an interest as aforesaid shall withdraw from any meetings at which such matter is discussed. Any such disclosure shall be communicated to the Minister without delay. Where the interest of the member is such as to disqualify him from remaining a member, he shall report the fact immediately to the Minister and tender his resignation.

(8) If a member resigns or if the office of a member of the Board is otherwise vacant or if a member is for any reason unable to perform the functions of his office, the Minister may appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed to be a member, to be a temporary member of the Board; and any person so appointed shall, subject to the provisions of sub-article (3), cease to be such a member when a person has been appointed to fill the vacancy or, as the case may be, when the member who was unable to perform the functions of his office resumes those functions.