Cap. 254 Art. 35Opening of postal articles for the purpose of enforcing Customs laws.

(1) All postal articles, except letters, received from abroad may be opened and examined at any post office by an officer of the

Customs in the presence of an officer of a postal operator, for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of any law or regulation relating to Customs.

(2) Such postal articles, after being opened, shall be repacked in a suitable cover, secured by a seal, bearing the inscription "Opened by Customs".

(3) Letters containing articles liable to Customs duty accompanied by a declaration of contents and value, and bearing on the outside a declaration that they may be opened officially, may be opened under the same conditions laid down in the two preceding subarticles.

(4) If any letter received from abroad not bearing a declaration that it may be opened officially, is reasonably suspected to contain goods subject to payment of Customs duties or the importation of which into Malta is prohibited, the Authority may direct that it be opened in such a manner as the Authority thinks fit, in the presence of the addressee, or in his absence, if, having been notified in writing to attend at the opening, the addressee shall fail to do so within seven working days: Provided that where a postal operator has a reasonable cause to suspect that the provisions of subarticle (4) has been contravened, the postal operator shall not deliver the postal article to its addressee and shall notify the Comptroller of Customs accordingly by the next working day.