Cap. 291 Art. 3Commissioners for Justice. Cap. 363.

(1) There shall be appointed Commissioners for Justice who shall separately have the functions and powers assigned to them by this Act, or under the Local Government Act, or under any other Act including the functions and powers -

(a) to consider any charge brought before them by the Executive Police in accordance with article 5 or by local councils under the Local Government Act or by any other authority under any other Act;

(b) to hear witnesses on oath or affirmation and to examine such evidence as may be produced before them;

(c) to determine whether, on the evidence so produced, the scheduled offence specified in the charge has or has not been proved to have been committed by the person charged;

(d) to impose such penalty in accordance with the provisions of article 10(2), and generally, for the purpose of exercising their functions and powers, the Commissioners shall have, all such powers as mutatis mutandis, are, by the provisions of Book Second of the Criminal Code, vested in the Court of Magistrates.

(2) An act or omission shall not, for the purposes of this Act, be considered to be a criminal act notwithstanding the provision of such law as is set out in the Schedule to this Act, but shall nevertheless be deemed to constitute an offence for which a Commissioner may, in accordance with the provisions of article 10(2), order the payment of the penalty therein specified.

(3) Saving the provisions of article 11, the Court of Magistrates or any other court of criminal jurisdiction shall not have jurisdiction to try a scheduled offence:

Provided that the Court of Magistrates or any other court of criminal jurisdiction shall have jurisdiction to try any scheduled offence which is charged together with any other offence over which the said court has jurisdiction.

(4) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act, an offence against the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance or against the Medical and

Kindred Professions Ordinance which is triable under this Act shall not cease to be a criminal offence and the courts of criminal jurisdiction shall retain a concurrent jurisdiction to try that offence so however that the punishments applicable after the coming into force of this Act shall not exceed the punishments which would be applied had the offence been tried before a Commissioner for Justice under this Act:

Provided that the Courts of criminal jurisdiction shall, by virtue of this Act, be entitled to apply any penalty which may be applied by a Commissioner for Justice under this Act in respect of an offence which according to this Act is to be tried before a Commissioner for Justice: Provided further that the period of prescription applicable in respect of an offence against the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance and the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance triable under this Act shall, notwithstanding the other provisions of this Act, be the same applicable in respect of that offence under the said Ordinances read in conjunction with the provisions of the Criminal

Code on prescription.

(5) An offence referred to in sub-article (4) shall remain subject to all the powers of the Executive Police in respect thereof as if it had not been an offence triable by a Commissioner for Justice under this Act for the purposes of the investigation of the said offence or of any other offence.

(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-articles (4) and (5) or of any other law, an offence referred to in sub-article (4) shall not be taken into account for the purposes of the issue of conduct certificates under the Conduct Certificates Ordinance but the Registrar of the Tribunal or any other person as may be designated by regulations made by the Minister shall keep a register of all convictions or voluntary payments of penalties in respect of offences referred to in sub-article (4) and such register shall be accessible to the Executive Police, to the Registrar, Criminal Courts and Tribunals, to the Armed Forces of Malta and to any other public authority, in the exercise of their functions at law, as the Minister may by regulations designate. Requests for access to the register shall be submitted in writing to the Registrar of the Tribunal or other person granting access, as the case may be, who shall keep a record thereof, including the dates when the request was received and when access was provided. The Registrar of the Tribunal or other person granting access, as the case may be, shall keep such records for three (3) years from the date of such request:

Provided that the public authority requesting access shall have in place appropriate safeguards for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation in particular to purpose limitation, integrity and confidentiality, as required pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, or pursuant to the Data Protection (Processing of Personal Data by Competent Authorities for the Purposes of the Prevention, Investigation, Detection or

Prosecution of Criminal Offences or the Execution of Criminal Penalties) Regulations.

(7) Prosecution before the Commissioners for Justice for offences against the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance or against the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance for possession for personal use of a prohibited drug shall be carried out by the Executive Police who shall however appear before the Commissioner in plain clothes.