Cap. 254 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"this Act" includes any regulations made under this Act unless the context otherwise requires;

"access points" means physical facilities, including letter boxes provided for the public either on streets, public ways, public highways or at the premises of the postal service provider or providers where postal articles may be deposited with the postal network by senders;

"article of correspondence" means a communication in written form on any kind of physical medium to be conveyed and delivered at the address indicated by the sender on the article itself or on its wrapping but does not include books, catalogues, newspapers and periodicals;

"authorisation" means any permission however so described issued in accordance with this Act, setting out rights and obligations specific to the postal sector and allowing operators to provide postal services and, where applicable, to establish and, or operate their networks for the provision of such services in the form of a general authorisation or an individual licence as defined under this article; "authorised provider" means any person who holds a valid licence or authorisation to operate or provide postal services; "Authority" means the Malta Communications Authority established under the Malta Communications Authority Act;

"basic counter service" means a network of access points distributed throughout Malta providing postal services including the sale of stamps, registration of mail, parcel collection and delivery; "clearance" means the operation of collecting postal articles by a postal service provider; "cross-border mail" means mail to or from another country;

"customs duty" includes value added tax or any other tax where payable upon importation;

"data protection" includes personal data protection, the confidentiality of information transmitted, shared or stored, and protection of privacy; "decision" includes any determination, direction, measure, requirement or specification, however so described, made by the Authority; "direct mail" means a communication consisting solely of advertising, marketing or publicity material and comprising an identical message, except for the addressee’s name, address and identifying number as well as other modifications which do not alter the nature of the message, which is sent to a significant number of addressees, to be conveyed and delivered at the address indicated by the sender on the article itself or on its wrapping and includes cross-border as well as inland mail. Bills, invoices, financial statements or other non-identical messages and communications combining direct mail with other articles within the same wrapping shall not be included as direct mail: Provided that the Authority shall interpret the term "significant number of addressees" in relation to direct mail and publish by notice in the Gazette and on the website of the Authority, an appropriate definition from time to time; "distribution" means the process from sorting at the distribution centre to delivery of postal articles to their addressees; "essential requirements" means general non-economic reasons which can induce the Authority to impose conditions on the supply of postal services. These reasons are the confidentiality of correspondence, security of the network as regards the transport of dangerous goods, respect for the terms and conditions of employment, social security schemes laid down by law or administrative provision and, or by collective agreement between national social partners, in accordance with Community and national law, and where justified, data protection, environmental protection and regional planning;

"fictitious stamp" means any facsimile, imitation or representation of a postage stamp;

"foreign" used in relation to a postal article means posted in Malta and addressed to any country or place outside Malta, or vice versa; "Gazette" means the Malta Government Gazette;

"general authorisation" means an authorisation regardless of whether it is regulated by a ‘class licence’ and regardless of whether such regulation requires registration or declaration procedures, which does not require the postal operator concerned to obtain an explicit decision by the Authority before exercising the rights stemming from the authorisation; "Government" means the Government of Malta;

"individual licence" means an authorisation which is granted by the Authority and which gives a postal operator specific rights, or which subjects the operations of that operator to specific obligations supplementing the general authorisation where applicable, where the postal operator is not entitled to exercise the rights until it has received the decision by the Authority further to the operator’s application for such authorisation; "inland" used in relation to a postal article means posted in Malta and addressed to any place in Malta; "insured article" means a service insuring a postal article up to the value declared by the sender in the event of loss, theft or damage; "interested parties" includes licensed postal service operators, manufacturers, registered consumer associations registered in accordance with the Consumer Affairs Act and any postal users’ groups duly recognised as such by the Authority which groups must satisfy any criteria that the Authority with the consent of the Minister may by notice in the Gazette prescribe; "letter" includes all postal articles which may by regulations be transmitted through the post at letter rates; "letter-box" includes every pillar box, wall box, and every other box or receptacle provided in a place accessible to the public under the permission of the Authority for the purpose of receiving postal articles for collection by a postal operator and delivery to the addressee; "mail bag" includes any bag, box, parcel, envelope, or covering in which postal articles in course of transmission by post are conveyed, whether it does or does not contain any such article; "mail ship" means any ship or aircraft employed for the conveyance of mail, pursuant to a contract or arrangement made by a postal operator or by an entity performing similar functions in another country; "Malta" has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution of Malta; "master of a ship" means the person for the time being in charge or command of a vessel used in navigation, or of an aircraft, but does not include the pilot of a vessel used in navigation; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for posts, and includes any person authorised in that behalf by such Minister; "officer of a postal operator" includes every person employed in any business carried by a postal operator or is acting for or on behalf of a postal operator;

"parcel" means a postal article which is not an item of correspondence, the weight of which does not exceed twenty kilograms (20kg) and the dimensions of which fall within the limits of size laid down in Agreements concerning Postal Parcels adopted by the Universal Postal Union as may be amended from time to time, or by any other convention as the Authority may prescribe;

"person" includes an association or body of persons, whether corporate or not;

"pilot" means the person in charge or command of an aircraft; "post office" includes any branch or subdivision of a postal operator, and any house, building, room, vehicle, place or device used for the purposes of the postal operator, and any letter-box;

"postage" means the fees chargeable for the transmission by post of postal articles;

"postage stamp" means any stamp for denoting postage or other fees or sums payable in respect of postal articles, and includes adhesive postage stamps and stamps printed, embossed, impressed or otherwise indicated on any envelope, card, wrapper, postcard or other article, whether such postage stamp is issued under this Act or by the Government of a foreign country or by a Postal Administration recognised by the Minister; "postal article" means an article addressed in the final form in which it is to be carried by a postal operator. In addition to articles of correspondence, such articles also include books, catalogues, newspapers, periodicals and postal parcels, however so described, including packages containing merchandise with or without commercial value;

"postal network" means the system of organization and resources of all kinds used by the universal service provider or providers for the purposes in particular of:

(i) the clearance of postal articles covered by a universal service obligation from access points throughout Malta,

(ii) the routing and handling of those postal articles from the postal network access point to the distribution centre,

(iii) distribution to the addresses shown on postal articles; "postal operator" means any person authorised to supply one or more postal services as defined in this Act in Malta and other countries and includes any person who carries on within or outside Malta any business or activity relating to postal services including any services that are ancillary to postal services; "postal services" means services involving the clearance, sorting, transport and distribution of postal articles: Provided that the provision of a service of transport alone shall not be considered as a postal service; "postcard" means any card admissible as a postcard in accordance with this Act or under any regulation made under this Act and includes a reply postcard; "prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under this Act; "printed matter" includes any newspaper and any record, tape, film or other means whereby words or visual images may be heard, perceived or reproduced; "private letter-box" means any box, receptacle or slot which the owner or occupier of any premises has provided for the receipt of postal articles addressed to those premises; "prohibited" used in relation to importation or exportation includes any restriction on such importation or exportation; "registered article" means a service providing a flat-rate guarantee against risks of loss, theft or damage and supplying the sender, where appropriate upon request, with proof of the handing in of the postal article and, or of its distribution to the addressee; "scheme" unless the context otherwise requires, means a postal services scheme made in accordance with article 76A; "sender" means a legal or natural person responsible for originating postal articles; "services provided at single piece tariff" means postal services for which the tariff is set in the general terms and conditions of universal service provider or providers for individual postal articles;

"terminal dues" means the remuneration of the universal service provider or providers for the distribution of incoming cross-border mail comprising postal articles from another country; "Tribunal" means the Administrative Review Tribunal established by article 5 of the Administrative Justice Act; "universal service" shall have the meaning given to it in accordance with article 17; "universal service provider" means the postal operator providing the universal postal service or parts thereof within Malta as may be designated by the Authority; "users" means any legal or natural person benefitting from postal service provision as a sender or an addressee; "working day" means a day which is not a Sunday or public holiday.

(2) Any reference in this Act to Customs, Customs duty or laws and regulations relating to Customs, shall include a reference to any prohibition of, and any licence or permits required for, the importation or exportation of goods into or out of Malta, and to any laws and regulations relating thereto.