Cap. 280 Art. 2Interpretation.

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

"current pensionable emoluments" has the same meaning as

"pensionable emoluments" with the substitution of references to honoraria or salaries currently payable on a relevant date for the references to honoraria or salaries payable on the date of retirement;

"House" means the House of Representatives established by article 51 of the Constitution;

"member" means any person who, on or after 1st January, 1976, was or becomes a member of the House;

"Minister" means the Minister from time to time responsible for the Department of Social Security, and includes any officer designated by the Minister for a particular purpose or class of purposes; "pensionable emoluments" means -

(a) in respect of service by a member to whom paragraph

(b) of this definition does not apply, the honorarium payable to a member on the date of his retirement;

(b) in respect of service by a member who has also held the office of Speaker, or of Prime Minister, or of Minister, or of Parliamentary Secretary, or of Deputy Speaker or of Leader of the Opposition under any of the instruments specified in subarticle (2), for a period of not less than five years, or who has held any two or more of those offices for a period of not less than five years in the aggregate, or for a period of less than five years, being the whole period between the first sitting of the House or of the Legislative Assembly after any dissolution, up to the date when the House or the Legislative Assembly, as the case may be, is again dissolved after that sitting (hereinafter referred to as "the period of a Legislature"), has held any such office or any two or more of those offices, the salary payable in respect of that office, or the average of the salaries payable in respect of the said offices which carry the favourable to the member, on the date of his retirement: Provided that where a member who has not held any such office or any such offices for a whole period of a Legislature, but has held any such office for a period of less than five years, or has held any two or more of such offices for a period of less than five years in the aggregate, the average of the salary payable in respect of such office and of the honorarium payable to a member, for a period of five years in the aggregate, or the average of the salaries payable in respect of the said offices and of the honorarium payable to a member, for a period of five years in the aggregate, shall be calculated in the manner aforesaid during the five years more favourable to the member on the date of his retirement;

"retirement" -

(a) in respect of a member over the age of sixty-one years who is still a member, means -

(i) the implementation of the decision by such member to cease to be a member or not to seek re-election as a member, and includes the failure to be re-elected if he has sought re-election, or

(ii) the attainment of the age of sixty-five years, whichever is the earlier;

(b) in respect of a member who ceases to be a member before attaining the age of sixty-one years, the attainment of that age; "service" in relation to any member, means any service performed by such member prior to his attaining the age of sixty-five years as a member of the House and any service as a member of the Legislative Assembly under any of the instruments aforesaid and -

(a) in respect of a member who ceases to be a member upon a dissolution of Parliament and is re-elected a member at the first general election after that dissolution, shall also include the period between the said dissolution and the day on which the House first sits after that dissolution;

(b) in respect of a member who has occupied the office of Speaker, or of Minister, or of Parliamentary Secretary, shall also include, for the purpose of service as member or of service in any of the said offices, any service in that office while the Assembly or Parliament stood dissolved, so however that no period as a member and in any of the said offices shall be taken into account more than once;

(c) in respect of a person who on the 5th January, 1981,

(d) in respect of a person who on the 4th January, 1981, was a member over the age of fifty-five years and had served as member for less than an aggregate of ten years, shall also include any period commencing on the 5th January, 1981, or the day on which he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is the latter, and ending on the day on which he shall have completed an aggregate of ten years service as a member; "service pension" has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 2 of the Social Security Act; "widow" and "actual widow" shall have the same meaning assigned to them in article 2 of the Social Security Act; "year", except for the purposes of establishing the age of a person, means a period of three hundred and sixty-five days, and includes two or more periods amounting in the aggregate to three hundred and sixty-five days.

(2) The instruments referred to in subarticle (1) are the Malta (Constitution) Letters Patent, 1947, the Malta (Constitution) Order-in-Council, 1961 and the Malta Independence Order, 1964.