Cap. 450 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) In this Part and in Parts II and III of this Act and in the

Schedules thereto unless the context otherwise requires -

''advertisement'' means any form of advertising, whether verbal, in written or by electronic means and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, includes advertising in a publication, the display of notices, signs, labels or show cards, by means of letters, circulars, prospectuses, catalogues, price lists or other documents, by the exhibition of pictures or photographic or cinematographic films, by way of sound, television or other broadcast, by the distribution of recordings or in any other manner, and references to the issue of an advertisement shall be construed accordingly; ''affiliate'' with respect to a person (hereinafter ''the relevant person'') means:

(a) any person who owns directly or indirectly 25% or more of the total combined voting power or 25% or more of the total value of the stock or ownership interests of the relevant person (hereinafter referred to as ''an owner'');

(b) any person where the relevant person directly or indirectly owns 25% or more of the total combined voting power or 25% or more of the total value of stock or ownership interest of such person (hereinafter referred to as ''the sub-person'');

(c) any two or more persons where an owner directly or indirectly, in the case of each such person owns 25% or more of the total combined voting power or 25% or more of the total value of the stock or ownership interest of such person (each of such two or more persons, hereinafter referred to as ''a sister-person'');

(d) any person where a director, or officer of a relevant person, an owner, a sub-person or a sister-person owns 25% or more of the total combined voting power or 25% or more of the value of the stock or ownership interests of such person;

(e) any person that in the opinion of the Authority -

(i) is under the de facto or effective control of a relevant person; or

(ii) exercises de facto or effective control of the relevant person;

''ancillary cash'' means cash used in connection with a registered scheme to pay expenses, to pay retirement benefits, and to fulfil similar requirements of the scheme; ''asset manager'' means a person who provides the investment ''beneficiary'' means an individual who is to receive current or future payments under the applicable scheme or overseas retirement plan; and, where relevant, the estate of such individual;

''Commissioner'' means the Commissioner of Inland Revenue; ''contributor'' shall mean -

(a) the individual, in the case of a retirement scheme to which contributions are made solely or partly by the individual for the benefit of that same individual; and

(b) the employer, in the case of a scheme to which contributions are made solely or partly by an employer for the benefit of employees; and for the purpose of this Act, a partnership shall be treated as the employer of each of its partners, and a company shall be treated as the employer of each of its officers and directors; and ''employee'' and ''employment'' shall be construed accordingly;

''defined benefit scheme'' means a scheme other than a defined contribution retirement scheme which has as its primary purpose that of providing for the payment of fixed or determinable retirement benefits; ''defined contribution retirement scheme'' means a scheme which has as its primary purpose that of providing for the payment of retirement benefits, which are established by reference to the contributions paid into such scheme, the accumulation of profits, gains and other income, after the deduction of expenses and losses in relation thereto;

''directive'' means a directive issued by the Authority in accordance with article 51(3);

''Income Tax Acts'' means collectively the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax Management Act;

''investment service'' means any service falling within the Second Schedule, when provided in relation to an instrument; ''instrument'' shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the

Investment Services Act; ''Malta's international commitments'' shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Investment Services Act; ''Minister'' means the Minister responsible for finance;

''overseas retirement plan'' means a bona fide scheme or arrangement, organized under the laws of a country outside of Malta, which govern the rights and responsibilities of the parties thereto, and under which payments are made to beneficiaries for the principal purpose of providing retirement benefits;

''occupational scheme'' means a scheme to which contributions approved by the retirement scheme administrator, has rendered the employee incapable of meeting the requirements of the employment he had been performing at the onset of such disability; ''prescribed'' means prescribed by regulations or directives made under this Act; ''registration'' in relation to a scheme or retirement fund or to a retirement fund administrator, retirement scheme administrator or asset manager, or to a matter connected therewith or ancillary thereto, means a registration under this Act, and ''register'' and ''registered'' shall be construed accordingly; ''retirement benefit'' means pension or other benefits that are payable to a beneficiary after retirement, permanent invalidity or death;

''retirement fund'' means a company established for the principal purpose of holding and investing the contributions made to one or more schemes or to one or more overseas retirement plans and shall be construed in accordance with article 4(2); ''retirement fund administrator'' shall be construed in accordance with article 17; ''retirement scheme administrator'' shall be construed in accordance with article 17; ''scheme'' means a scheme or arrangement which is registered under this Act under which payments are made to beneficiaries for the principal purpose of providing retirement benefits. a scheme or arrangement shall not constitute a scheme under this Act if it provides for:

(a) the payment of retirement benefits to five or fewer beneficiaries; or

(b) solely the payment of proceeds from the surrender or maturity of a long term contract of insurance effected by an insurance company authorised under the Insurance Business Act; or

(c) the commencement of payment of retirement benefits to a beneficiary on a date that is earlier than that on which such beneficiary has attained the age of fifty, or later than that on which the beneficiary attains the age of seventy, except in those cases where the scheme or arrangement provides that:

(i) the payment is made by reason of the permanent invalidity or death of a beneficiary; or

(ii) the payment is made by means of a cash lump sum to the beneficiary without the necessity of the beneficiary’s consent in such amount as the Authority may prescribe in the event that the Authority elect to be considered a scheme for purposes of this Act; ''scheme document'' means the written instrument evidencing a registered scheme; ''tax'' means the tax imposed by the Income Tax Acts; ''technical funding requirement'' has the meaning given by article 31.

(2) In Parts I, II and III of this Act and in the Schedules and in any regulations or directives made thereunder, if there is any conflict between the English and the Maltese texts, the English text shall prevail.