Cap. 254 Art. 76AIssue of directives and administrative fines.

(1) The Authority may in accordance with the provisions of article 4(6) and (7) of the Malta Communications Authority Act, issue any such directives to any postal operator as it may consider to be necessary for the purposes of and in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subarticle (1) the Authority may in particular issue directives to an universal service provider in respect of any of the following:

(a) the quality of the postal services to be provided, including compliance with any quality standards that the Authority may establish and any corrective action as the Authority may consider necessary in this regard;

(b) to ensure that the density of access points takes account of the needs of users;

(c) compliance with any requirements of the universal services as may be onerous on that provider;

(d) compliance with the principles as stated under articles 21 and 22;

(e) the manner and time in which postal articles may be posted and delivered, including the core hours during which post offices are to be open to the public;

(f) the disposal and, or detention of postal articles which for any reason cannot be delivered;

(g) schemes pertaining to postal services: Provided that before issuing any directives under this subarticle the Authority shall consult with the universal service provider or providers concerned and with any such other stakeholders as the Authority may in the circumstances consider appropriate.

(3) Any postal operator who fails to comply with a directive or a decision, however so described, issued by the Authority, shall be liable to the imposition by the Authority of an administrative fine of up to twenty-five thousand euro (€25,000), and, or up to five hundred euro (€500) for each day during which failure to observe the requirements of any such directive or decision persists.