Cap. 552 Art. 78Call in Procedure. Cap. 492. Cap. 12. Cap. 492.

(1) Where an appeal is lodged by an applicant or by a registered interested third party, or by any external consultee from any decision of the Planning Board or the Commission relative to the instances referred to in sub-article (2), the secretary of the Tribunal shall inform the Minister of such an appeal within fifteen days from its receipt. In such case, the Minister may, within fifteen days from the date when he has received such information, either instruct the Tribunal to proceed with the determination of the appeal or decide to refer the appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers for determination. Where the Minister does not decide to refer such an appeal called in by him in terms of sub-article (1), where such an appeal relates to decisions in respect of:

(a) a development which appears to him to be of a strategic significance;

(b) a development which appears to him to affect matters of national security or national interests;

(c) a development which appears to him likely to affect the interests of the Government of Malta or other governments;

(d) a development which is subject to an environmental impact assessment and which in the Minister’s opinion is of national interest;

(e) a development where the applicant is a department of Government or a body corporate established by law.

(3) Where the Minister decides to refer to the Cabinet of Ministers an appeal referred to him, he shall request the Tribunal to draw up its recommendation on that appeal after having heard the parties and the Tribunal shall send its recommendation on that particular appeal to the Minister who shall refer it to the Cabinet of Ministers. Such recommendation shall be available to the public.

(4) The Cabinet Secretary shall, within fifteen days from the date of such decision, communicate the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to the Planning Board and the Commission together with the reasons in justification thereof and the Planning Board shall comply therewith, publish the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers in such manner as it may deem fit or as may be prescribed and shall communicate the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to the parties within fifteen days from the receipt of such decision.

(5) A decision by the Cabinet of Ministers pursuant to this article which relates to a development or an installation which is subject to an environmental impact assessment and, or an IPPC permit, may, upon an application by the appellant or by an interested party, which may include a non-governmental organisation having as one of its purposes the promotion of environmental protection and is registered under the Voluntary

Organisations Act, be subject to appeal on matters of substantive and procedural legality to the Court of Appeal in its superior jurisdiction. An appeal in terms of this sub-article shall be made by an application to be filed within ten days from the date of communication of the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to the parties. The appeal proceedings shall be concluded by the Court of Appeal within four months from the filing of the appeal before it and shall not be prohibitively expensive. Legal and judicial costs and fees in the said proceedings shall be taxed in accordance with paragraph (7) of item 3 of Tariff A and with paragraph (b) of item 15 of Tariff E in Schedule A to the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure. the decision of the Cabinet is taken.

(7) Where a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers is subject to an appeal in accordance with sub-article (5), the Court of Appeal may, upon a request of the appellant or of an interested party, which may include a non-governmental organisation having as one of its purposes the promotion of environmental protections and which is registered under the Voluntary Organisations Act, order that the execution of the development or the operation of the installation be suspended whilst proceedings before the said Court are pending.