Cap. 514 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"advertisement" means any form or medium of advertising or promotional activity, other than a scheme document, scheme particulars or retirement fund particulars 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, 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, the contents of which either invite persons, or contain material calculated to induce persons to become or offer to become members in a retirement scheme or investors in a retirement fund; and references to the issue of an advertisement shall be construed accordingly; "beneficiary" means an individual receiving retirement benefits in accordance with the provisions of a scheme document; "competent authority" means the Malta Financial Services Authority established by the Malta Financial Services Authority Act;

"contributor" means -

(a) the individual who contributes solely or partly to the retirement scheme; and, or

(b) the employer who contributes solely or partly to the retirement scheme, for the benefit of members of the retirement scheme; "defined benefit retirement scheme" means a retirement 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 retirement scheme which has as its primary purpose that of providing for the payment of retirement benefits which are established by reference

*See article 1(2) of the Act as originally enacted, and Legal Notices 4 of 2015 and 35 of 2015. "document" or "documentation" includes information recorded in any form and, in relation to information recorded otherwise than in legible form, references to its production include references to producing a copy of the information in legible form;

"EEA State" means a State which is a contracting party to the agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on the 2nd May, 1992 as amended by the Protocol signed at Brussels on the 17th March, 1993 and as amended by any subsequent acts; "EIOPA" means the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority established in terms of article 1 of Regulation

(EU) No 1094/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November, 2010; "instrument" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Investment Services Act; "investor" means the retirement scheme and, or overseas retirement scheme investing in a retirement fund; "key function" within a system of governance, means a capacity to undertake practical tasks comprising the risk management function, the internal audit function, and the actuarial function;

"licence" means a retirement scheme licence or a retirement fund licence or a licence of a service provider providing any one or more of the services listed in the Schedule, and "licensing" and "licensed" shall be construed accordingly; "licence holder" means a person or body corporate or unincorporated body holding a licence under this Act; "main administration" means the place, located in Malta, where the main strategic decisions of a retirement scheme and a retirement fund are made;

"Malta’s international commitments" means Malta’s commitments, responsibilities and obligations arising out of membership of the European Union and membership of, or affiliation to, or relationship with, any international, global or regional organisations or grouping of countries or out of any treaty, convention or other international agreement, however called, whether bilateral or multilateral, including Memoranda of Understanding, to which Malta is a party;

"member" means a person who is entitled or will become entitled to retirement benefits in accordance with the provisions of a scheme document; "Member State" means a Member State of the European Communities; "the Minister" Minister responsible for the regulation of financial services; to time, and includes any implementing measures, implementing technical standards, regulatory technical standards and similar measures that have been or may be issued thereunder;

"occupational retirement scheme" means a retirement scheme, irrespective of its legal form, operating on a funded basis, established separately from any sponsoring undertaking or trade, for the purposes of providing retirement benefits in the context of an occupational activity on the basis of an agreement or a contract agreed:

(a) individually or collectively between the employer or employers and the employees or their respective representatives; or

(b) with self-employed persons, individually or collectively, and which carries out activities directly arising therefrom; "officer", in relation to a licence holder, includes a director, manager or company secretary or any person effectively acting in such capacity, whether formally appointed or not; "overseas regulatory authority” means an authority in a country or territory outside Malta which exercises any regulatory or supervisory function in relation to financial services corresponding to a function of the competent authority as defined in the Malta

Financial Services Authority Act; "overseas retirement scheme" means a scheme or arrangement, organized under the laws of a country outside Malta with the principal purpose of providing retirement benefits; "Pension Rules" means rules issued by the competent authority, under various articles of this Act and under any regulations made thereunder;

"personal retirement scheme" means a retirement scheme which is not an occupational retirement scheme and to which contributions are made for the benefit of an individual; "prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under this Act; "qualifying shareholding" means a direct or indirect holding in a body corporate which represents ten per cent or more of the share capital issued by such body, or of the voting rights attaching to such share capital or which makes it possible to exercise a significant influence over the management of the body corporate; "retirement benefit" means benefits paid by reference to reaching, or the expectation of reaching, retirement or, where they are supplementary to those benefits and provided on an ancillary basis, in the form of payments on death, disability, or cessation of employment or in the form of support payments or services in case of sickness, indigence or death; "retirement scheme" means a scheme or arrangement as defined in article 3;

"Retirement Scheme Administrator" means a person licensed to provide the retirement scheme administration services referred to in the Schedule; "schedule of payments" shall be construed in accordance with article 18; "scheme document" means the written instrument evidencing or establishing a retirement scheme and which stipulates the retirement benefits and the conditions under which these are granted;

"service" means any service falling within the Schedule, when provided in relation to an instrument;

"service provider" means any person licensed under this Act to provide any one or more of the services listed in the Schedule;

"Solvency II Directive" means Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November, 2009 on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II) (recast), as may be amended from time to time and includes any delegated acts and any technical standards that have been, or may be issued thereunder; "sponsoring undertaking" means any undertaking or other body, regardless of whether it includes or consists of one or more legal or natural persons, which acts as an employer or in a self-employed capacity or any combination thereof and which offers an occupational retirement scheme or pays contributions to an occupational retirement scheme; "subsidiary" has the same meaning as that assigned to the term "subsidiary undertaking" under article 2 of the Companies Act;

"tax" means the tax imposed by the Income Tax Acts; "the Income Tax Acts" means collectively the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax Management Act.

(2) In this Act and in the Schedule and in any regulations prescribed or Pension Rules issued thereunder, if there is any conflict between the English and the Maltese texts, the English text shall prevail.

(3) Regulations made under this Act and any amendment or revocation of such regulations, may be published in the English language only.

(4) The objective of this Act is, in part, to implement the provisions of the Occupational Pensions Directive and relative European Union measures, and it shall be interpreted and applied accordingly.