Cap. 300 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"alien" where it refers to an individual means a person who is not a citizen of Malta; where it refers to a body of persons, in whatever manner constituted juridically, means any such body of persons directly or indirectly controlled by persons who are not citizens of Malta, and includes any State or Government; and where it refers to a broadcast means any such broadcast transmitted from a station or installation situate outside the territory of Malta and which is not authorised by the Broadcasting Authority; "broadcast" means broadcast by wireless telegraphy or wire or both, and includes both sound and television broadcast; "Broadcasting Authority" means the Broadcasting Authority established by article 118 of the Constitution; "intermediary agent" means any person or group of persons who, irrespective of the proclaimed objectives, is involved in political activity, and includes any citizen of Malta resident outside Malta who so acts; "Malta" has the meaning assigned to it in article 124 of the Constitution; "Monitoring Committee" means the Committee established under this Act; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for foreign affairs;

"person" includes any political party, and any political or other organisation, institution or body whatsoever;

"political" where it does not refer to a party, person, club or similar institution is restricted in meaning to matters connected with the elections in Malta, or which may be reasonably deemed to influence such elections, and matters connected with the internal or foreign affairs of Malta;

"programme" includes an advertisement.

*See article 1(2) as originally enacted, which subarticle has been omitted under the Statute Law Revision Act, 1980 and Government Notice No. 461 of 1st September, 1982 †See article 9 of Act I of 1987.

(a) any activity, or participation in any activity, of a political nature or having a political purpose at any time during the period commencing nine months prior to the date on which Parliament would, unless sooner dissolved, stand dissolved by virtue of article 76(2) of the Constitution and the date of the publication of the results of an election, or at any time between the dissolution of Parliament according to article 76(1) of the Constitution and the date of the publication of the results of an election;

(b) the provision at any time to or for the benefit of a political party, person, club or similar institution, whether directly or through an intermediary agent, of any money, equipment or other material, by way of gift or otherwise not against equivalent valuable consideration, excluding books and other publications intended for sale or distribution not exclusively or mainly for Malta, unless such provision is authorised by the Monitoring Committee in accordance with this Act: Provided that nothing in this subarticle shall be deemed to include anything which, taking into account the value and any other circumstances, may be reasonably considered as a bona fide gift of no political significance.

(3) An activity as defined in subarticle (2)(a) shall not be a restricted activity at any time other than that mentioned in the same paragraph, provided that the person intending to hold or organising such an activity notifies in writing five days in advance the Secretary of the Monitoring Committee established under this Act, but the Secretary may in urgent cases accept, in his discretion, notification at a shorter notice.

(4) Nothing in this article shall be construed as affecting normal diplomatic activities.

(5) Nothing in this article shall apply to any activity organised by an international organisation of which the State of Malta is a member, subject however to the condition that if it is a political activity, this is not organised by a particular political group within any such organisation.