Cap. 510 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:-

"approved university" shall have the same meaning as the term "competent authority" in terms of article 2 of the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications Act; "association of undertakings" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in article 2 of the Competition Act;

"Authority" means the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority established by article 3;

"Board" means the Board of Governors established by article 8; "Chairman" means the Chairman of the Board who shall be the Chairman of the Authority appointed in terms of article 9(1); "Civil Court" means the Civil Court (Commercial Section) established by article 3 of the Civil Court (Establishment of

Sections) Order. "concentration" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in regulation 2(d) of the Control of Concentrations Regulations; "conflict of interest" means that situation in which members of the Board, officers and employees of the Authority and advisors, consultants and other persons engaged with the Authority have private or personal interests sufficient to influence or appear to influence the objective exercise of their official duties;

*See Legal Notice 270 of 2021. †See Legal Notice 338 of 2021. ‡See Legal Notice 339 of 2021. §See sub-article (2) of article 1 as originally promulgated, and Legal Notice 190 of 2011. "conformity mark" means a mark, issued in accordance with regulations made under article 24, showing compliance with an applicable standard; "consumer association" or "registered consumer association" means an association registered in terms of Part IV of the

Consumer Affairs Act;

"Consumer Protection Co-operation Regulation" means Regulation (EC) No. 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004 on co-operation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws (text with EEA relevance);

"Co-ordination Committee" means the committee established by article 5; "Council" means the Consumer Affairs Council as established under article 4 of the Consumer Affairs Act; "Director General (Competition)" means the person so appointed by virtue of article 13(2); "Director General (Consumer Affairs)" means the person so appointed by virtue of article 16(2); "Director General (Standards and Metrology)" means the person so appointed by virtue of article 21(2);

"Director General (Technical Regulations)" means the person so appointed by virtue of article 19(2);

"draft standard" means a document containing the text of the technical specifications concerning a given subject, which is being considered for adoption and as circulated for public comment or scrutiny; "entities" means the Office for Competition, Office for Consumer Affairs, Technical Regulations Division and the Standards and Metrology Institute, and "entity" shall be construed accordingly as the context requires; "European standardization body" means the following bodies:

- CEN - European Committee for Standardization; - CENELEC - European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization; - ETSI - European Telecommunications Standards Institute; "financial year" means any period of twelve months ending on the 31st December; provided that the first financial year shall start on the coming into force of this Act and shall end on the 31st December of the following year; "Gazette" means the Government Gazette;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for competition, consumer affairs, standardization, metrology and technical regulations; "Ministry" means the Ministry responsible for competition, consumer affairs, standardization, metrology and technical regulations; "national competent authority" for the purposes of article 17(1)(o) shall have the same meaning assigned to "competent authority" in article 3(c) of the Consumer Protection Co-operation Regulation;

"officer" and "employee" includes a public officer detailed for duty in any of the entities established under this Act; "Permanent Secretary" means the person appointed to supervise the Authority in terms of the Public Administration Act; "permit" means an authorisation granted by the Standards and Metrology Institute under article 24 for the use of a conformity mark; "person" includes individuals, any body corporate and any body of persons whether it has a distinct legal personality or not; "prescribed" means prescribed under this Act unless otherwise stated; "Principal Permanent Secretary" means the person appointed in terms of article 14 of the Public Administration Act; "product" means any industrially manufactured product and any agricultural product, including fish products; "public authority" means:

(i) the Government, including any Ministry or Department thereof;

(ii) a government agency established in terms of the Public Administration Act; and

(iii) a government entity as defined in the Public Administration Act; "public officer" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in article 124 of the Constitution of Malta but does not include a judge of the superior courts or a magistrate of the inferior courts; "restrictive practice" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in article 2 of the Competition Act; "single liaison office" shall have the same meaning as assigned to "single liaison office" in article 3(d) of the Consumer Protection Co-operation Regulation;

"standard" means a technical specification approved by a recognised standardization body for repeated or continuous application, with which compliance is not compulsory, whether or not including other requirements, and which is one of the following:

- International Standard: a standard adopted by an international standardization organisation, other than a European standardization body, and made available to the public; - European Standard: a standard adopted by a European standardization body and made available to the public; - National Standard: a standard adopted by the Authority and made available to the public; "standards programme" means a work programme listing the subjects on which standardization work is being carried out; "technical specification" means a specification contained in a document which lays down the characteristics required of a product and, or, service such as levels of quality, performance, safety or dimensions, including the requirements applicable to the product and, or, service as regards the name under which the product and, or, service is sold, terminology, symbols, testing and test methods, packaging, marking or labelling used and the conformity assessment procedures. This term also covers production methods and processes used in respect of agricultural products, products intended for human and animal consumption, and medicinal products, as well as production methods and processes relating to other products, where these have an effect on their characteristics. For the purposes of this definition, "conformity assessment procedures" means any procedure used, directly and indirectly, to determine that relevant requirements in technical regulations or standards are fulfilled, including, procedures for inter alia, sampling, testing and inspection; evaluation, verification and assurance of conformity, registration, accreditation and approval as well as their combinations; "TFEU" means the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; "trader" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in article 2 of the Consumer Affairs Act; and "undertaking" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in article 2 of the Competition Act.