Cap. 445 Art. 8Operating agency.

(1) There shall be an operating agency hereinafter in this Act referred to as the Agency to be called ''Heritage Malta''. The mission of the Agency is to ensure that those elements of the cultural heritage entrusted to it are protected and made accessible to the public as defined in this Act.

(2) The Agency shall be a body corporate having a distinct legal personality and shall be capable, subject to the provisions of this Act, of entering into contracts, of acquiring, holding and disposing of any kind of property for the purposes of its functions, or suing and being sued, and of doing all such things and entering into all such transactions as are incidental or conducive to the exercise or performance of its functions under this Act.

(3) The legal and judicial representation of the Agency shall vest in the Chairperson, provided that the Chairperson may appoint the Chief Executive Officer or any one or more of the officers or employees of the Agency, to appear in its name and on its behalf in any judicial proceedings and on any act, contract, instrument or other document whatsoever.

(4) It shall be the function of the Agency:

(a) to ensure that museums, collections including reserve collections, sites, buildings and property, movable or immovable, forming part of the cultural heritage, owned or administered by it, are conserved, restored, administered, managed, operated, marketed, studied, researched and where applicable, excavated and presented for exhibition, in the best way possible;

(b) to acquire in property or in trust objects, collections of objects, sites, buildings, for the Museums, collections, sites and buildings;

(c) to perform or commission, in each case under the surveillance of the Superintendent, the restoration or conservation of cultural property owned or otherwise held or administered by the Agency;

(d) to coordinate with the Malta Tourism Authority, the Planning Authority and other pertinent bodies, measures which are deemed necessary so that objects, sites and buildings forming part of the cultural heritage are protected and made accessible through any necessary conservation, maintenance, restoration, exhibition and promotion;

(e) to promote public knowledge, education, appreciation and enjoyment of the cultural heritage;

(f) in coordination with the Superintendence to consult with Local Councils in the preservation of the cultural heritage in their locality;

(g) to promote and carry out research in the field of cultural heritage and, subject to the regulatory function of the Superintendent, to conduct excavations and other investigations which may be required so that objects or aspects of cultural heritage be discovered, cared for and appreciated;

(h) to provide access to the Superintendent to documentation of works of restoration and conservation carried out at or by the Agency, and, where necessary, the principles, technology and methodology employed;

(i) to act as a national consulting agency on matters related to conservation and restoration and any such matters related to its functions;

(j) when so required, to advise Government, following consultation with the Superintendence and the Council, on a policy of conservation and restoration which will cover Malta and identify priority areas and special needs;

(k) to set up and maintain all necessary systems, especially conservation databases, required to organise, document, plan, co-ordinate, control, monitor and generally undertake restoration projects of the Agency;

(l) to set up and maintain diagnostic science and conservation laboratories fully equipped for the purpose of fulfilling its functions;

(m) to enter into management agreements with entities and bodies for the management of cultural property;

(n) to perform such other functions under this or any other law as well as such other functions as the Minister may from time to time assign to it, and generally to advise the Minister on all matters relating to the cultural heritage and cultural property; and

(o) to set up and manage the Office of the Chief Herald of Arms of Malta.

(5) (a) For the purpose of ensuring the better conservation, restoration, management, administration, marketing, exhibition, presentation or study of any particular part of the cultural heritage, the Agency may, with the written approval of the Minister, acting in consultation with the Superintendent, either delegate any of its functions to any existing entity or to any entity to be established, whether public or private, or a partnership thereof, as may be necessary, and in every case under such conditions as established by the superintendent and approved and published by the Minister in the Gazette, provided that whenever the delegation above-mentioned consists in an act of guardianship there shall be followed the provisions of article 64.

(b) The Agency may, where appropriate, also fulfil its functions directly through its own resources.

(6) The Agency shall give the Superintendent all information that he may require in order to enable him to perform his functions under this Act.