Cap. 445 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

''Agency'' means the operating agency set up under article 8;

''Board'' means the established by Bord tal-Warrant tar-Restawraturi article 35; ''co-ordinate'' means exchanging views orally or in writing, before a decision or action is taken, with a view to avoiding conflicts, waste and errors or of putting a remedy thereto;

''conservation'' means any activity required to maximise the endurance and minimise the deterioration of any cultural property as far as possible, and includes examining, researching, testing, treating, recording and preserving any such cultural property or any part thereof;

''Conservation and Protection Order'' shall have the meaning assigned to it in article 63;

''conservator-restorer'' means a professionally qualified person holding a warrant under this Act; ''contiguous zone'' has the meaning as is assigned to it by the Territorial Waters and Contiguous Zone Act; "Council" means the National Council for Cultural Heritage established by article 12; ''cultural heritage'' means movable or immovable objects of artistic, architectural, historical, archaeological, ethnographic, palaeontological and geological importance and includes information or data relative to cultural heritage pertaining to Malta or to any other country. This includes archaeological, palaeontological or geological sites and deposits, human remains, landscapes, underwater and sea scapes, groups of buildings, as well as scientific collections, collections of natural specimens and art objects, manuscripts, books, published material, archives, audio-visual material and reproductions of any of the preceding, or collections of historical value, as well as intangible cultural assets comprising arts, traditions, customs and skills employed in the performing arts, in applied arts and in crafts and other intangible assets which have a historical, artistic or ethnographic value; ''cultural property'' means movable or immovable property to whomsoever they may belong forming part of the cultural heritage; ''Department of Government'' shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Public Administration Act; ''development'' has the meaning assigned to it in the

Development Planning Act; ''Entities'' means the Superintendence, the Agency, the Council and the Fund, and Entity shall be construed accordingly; ''entrustment agreement'' shall have the same meaning assigned to it in article 51;

"excavation" means archaeological scientific, stratigraphic investigation and documentation to inform research, building construction projects, conservation, protection and management of archaeological contexts, taking note of provenience, matrix, association, artefacts, ecofacts, features and structures on land and in the territorial waters, and may include non-intrusive or intrusive techniques; ''exploration'' means an activity on land and in the territorial seas or in the contiguous zone, carried out with the intention of discovering new data regarding the cultural heritage or in the search of discovering new movable or immovable items of cultural heritage value not yet documented on the national inventory of cultural property; ''field investigation" means a limited or detailed programme, as the case may be, of non-intrusive or intrusive fieldwork to determine the presence or otherwise of archaeological features, structures, deposits, artefacts or ecofacts within a specified area or site on land or underwater; ''financial year'' means the period of twelve months ending on the 31st December in any year; ''Forum'' means the National Forum for Cultural Heritage established in article 14; ''function'' includes responsibilities, powers and duties; ''Fund'' means the Cultural Heritage Fund established by article 13; ''Government agency'' shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Public Administration Act; ''Government entity'' shall have the meaning assigned to it in the

Public Administration Act; ''guardianship'' and ''guardianship deed'' shall have the meaning respectively assigned to them in article 64; ''Heritage skills'' shall include, but shall not be limited to, those skills, aptitudes and competences necessary for the completion of a specific work in the sphere of cultural heritage. These skills include the application of a heritage trade or craft, knowledge, custom, art, technique and skill as have been developed and safeguarded, whether through tradition or instruction, and having a conservation context; ''holder of cultural property'' shall mean the person physically holding a cultural object on behalf of third parties; ''integrated conservation'' means the whole range of measures aimed at ensuring the perpetuation of the cultural heritage, its maintenance as part of an appropriate environment, whether human-made or natural, its utilisation and its adaptation to the needs of society. Such an objective is to be achieved through the revitalisation and integration of cultural heritage within the physical environment of present-day society and by assigning a social function to such cultural heritage compatible with its dignity and its setting; ''intrusive object'' means an object which is attached to the remains of a ship, to a natural topographic feature or to the subsoil of the sea-bed; ''inventory'' means a list with associated information of cultural property which can be subsumed in the national inventory: Provided that the national inventory shall mean that list with associated information of cultural property as established under article 7(5);

''investigation'' means any activity for the purpose of obtaining and recording any information relating to cultural heritage and includes any works for the purposes of identifying, discovering, excavating, revealing, recovering and removing any object or material situated in, on or under any cultural property;

''landscape'' means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and, or of human factors; ''Local Council'' means a local council established under the Local Government Act; ''Minister'' means the Minister responsible for cultural heritage, and includes, to the extent of any authority given, any person specifically authorised by the Minister for any of the purposes of this Act;

''mission'' means the purpose and objective of an organization; ''monitor'' means a person accredited and duly authorised by, and working under the instructions of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to carry out monitoring activities and the term ''monitoring'' shall refer to an accredited person performing this task; ''museum'' means a permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, collects, conserves, researches, documents, communicates and exhibits for the purpose of study, education and enjoyment of cultural heritage and associated information of humankind and its environment for the public benefit; ''Non-Government Organisation" means any voluntary organisation the objective of which is the promotion of cultural heritage and may include the conservation, restoration, management, presentation and, or study of cultural property and which has been duly provided with a certificate of enrolment by the Commission of Voluntary Organisations under the Voluntary Organisations Act;

''owner'' in relation to any cultural property includes the directus dominus, the sub directus dominus, the emphyteuta, the sub emphyteuta, the bare owner and the usufructuary; ''officer'' and ''employee'' includes a public officer detailed for duty in any of the entities, committees or bodies established under this Act; ''Perit'' shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Periti Act; ''Planning Authority'' means the Authority established under the Development Planning Act; ''possessor'' means the person physically holding the cultural object in his own name; ''prescribed'' means prescribed under this Act;

''protected zone'' means an area in respect of which a Government Notice is in force and any area by which the aforementioned area is extended by a notice that is in force under this Act and includes the airspace above such an area and any waters, sea-bed and subsoil included in such an area;

''public collections'' means collections of cultural objects which are the property of the Government of Malta, government entities, authorities, corporations, government foundations and associations; ''public officer'' has the same meaning assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution; "Regulator" means the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage;

''restoration'' means a highly specialised activity to conserve the integrity of cultural heritage, and to reveal its cultural values and to improve the legibility of its original state, form and design, within the limits of still existing material. Such activity must be based on a critical, historical and scientific process of evaluation and not on conjecture; ''right of preference'' means the right granted to the Superintendent by and in accordance with article 55; ''semi-public collections'' means collections of cultural objects which are not directly owned by Government but such collections shall be subject to the obligations applicable to public collections in accordance with the provisions of this Act; ''scheduled buildings'' shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Development Planning Act; ''ship'' includes any vessel used in navigation by water, including a submarine; ''Superintendence'' means the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage established by article 7 and ''Superintendent'' means the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage referred to in the same article; ''surveillance'' means an activity by the Superintendence which includes an activity related to the control, direction, monitoring, regulation, investigation and recording of cultural heritage, and includes any activity in relation thereto; ''survey'' means the use of non-intrusive and non-destructive techniques to determine the presence or absence of anomalies resulting from archaeological features, structures or deposits, within a specified area or site on land or underwater. For the purposes of this Act, survey includes any activity designed to examine and record an area or features thereof so as to describe and gather data in written, measured or graphic form;

''suspension notice'' has the meaning assigned to it in article 62; ''territorial waters'' has the meaning assigned to it in the Territorial Waters and Contiguous Zone Act, and includes any waters enclosed between the baselines therein mentioned and the coast;

''Underwater Cultural Heritage" means all traces of human existence having a cultural, historical or archaeological character which have been partially or totally under water, periodically or continuously, for at least fifty years and which are related to Malta such as, but not limited to:

(i) sites, structures, buildings, artefacts and human remains, together with their archaeological and natural context;

(ii) vessels, aircraft, other vehicles or any part thereof, their cargo or other contents, together with their archaeological and natural context; and

(iii) objects of prehistoric character: Provided that Underwater Cultural Heritage shall not include pipelines, cables and installations placed on the seabed and still in use: Provided further that the Underwater Cultural Heritage removed from waters shall include a reference to the remains of a ship, to part of the remains of a ship, to an object or part thereof, as the case may be:

(a) having been washed away from those waters;

(b) having been removed, or washed away, from the seabed, or the subsoil of the seabed, beneath those waters; or

(c) having been removed, or washed away, from a natural topographic feature in those waters;

''warrant means the warrant granted in accordance with Part VI of this Act, and warrant holder shall be construed accordingly.