Cap. 497 Art. 48BPre-appointment parliamentary hearing on appointments of Ambassadors and on appointments to certain posts in Government Agencies, and other entities.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, where a Minister (hereinafter in this article referred to as "the Minister")

intends to nominate a person to be an Ambassador or High

Commissioner or other principal representative of Malta in any other country, not being a person who is selected from amongst public officers in the service of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs or a person who already holds the post of Ambassador or High

Commissioner or other principal representative of Malta in any other country, as may be specified by order of the Prime Minister in the First Part of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, or to hold a post in a Government Agency, Entity, Board or Commission or to head any other institution established by law as may be specified by order of the Prime Minister in the Second Part of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, then unless the nomination is in respect of a re-appointment, the Minister shall at least twenty days before he intends that the appointment should become effective give notice of the proposed appointment to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Appointments (hereinafter in this article referred to as "the Committee"):

Provided that:

(i) the exemption in respect of a nomination consisting of a re-appointment provided for in this sub-article shall not apply to persons who are not in the post on the date of coming into force of this sub-article; and

(ii) an order which amends the Second Part of the Fifth Schedule in such a manner as to reduce the posts listed in the said Second Part of the Fifth Schedule, except in the case where the sole purpose of such an amendment is that

(2) Upon receipt of the notice referred to in sub-article (1) the Chairperson of the Committee shall, through the Clerk of the House, circulate the said notice to all Members of the Committee giving the members five days to submit any questions in writing to the proposed nominee. The said questions shall relate to the professional competence, suitability and background of the nominee and they shall be notified to the Clerk of the House, who shall notify them to the Minister who gave notice of the proposed appointment, to the Chairperson and to the Members of the Committee and to the person nominated who shall have ten days to reply to the said questions in writing to the Clerk of the House who shall again circulate the replies as explained above. The questions and the replies shall, unless the Committee otherwise decides, be made public.

(3) By not later than the working day immediately following the expiry of the period of ten days established in sub-article (2) or of the extension of any such period in the case that the said period has been extended by the Committee in accordance with sub-article (6), the Clerk of the House shall transmit the replies submitted by the nominee to the Minister who gave notice of the proposed appointment, to the Chairperson and to all the Members of the Committee.

(4) The Committee shall in all cases call the nominee to a hearing at a meeting of the Committee so that supplementary questions related to the written replies provided may be put to the nominee. The said hearing shall be held on a date not later than five days from the notification to the Committee of the replies to the questions unless the Committee agrees to another date for the hearing. The said hearing shall be held in public but the Committee may where it is satisfied that it is appropriate, decide that the hearing should be held in camera.

(5) Upon the conclusion of the pre-appointment hearing in accordance with this article the Committee shall, unless it decides that it needs to discuss or clarify any matter with the Minister give its advice to the Minister which shall include the content of the form included in the Third Part of the Fifth Schedule to this Act to which there shall be annexed a copy of the minutes of the Committee relative to the hearing:

Provided that:

(i) any discussion between the Committee and the Minister held in terms of this sub-article shall be held during a meeting of the Committee to take place either in public or in camera as the Committee may decide;

(ii) any matter which according to this article is to be discussed by the Committee shall, notwithstanding any other law, not be transferred for discussion to another Committee of the House of Representatives or to the subject to the procedure provided in this article is to be made shall in any case pertain to the Minister.

(6) The Committee may, giving reasons, either on its own initiative or at the request of the Minister who has given the notice of a proposal for the appointment, lengthen or shorten any time limit set out in this article.

(7) The time limits established in this article shall be suspended during any period when the House of Representatives is not in session or during which it is adjourned for more than seven days:

Provided that nothing in this sub-article shall be interpreted as precluding the Committee, acting upon the unanimous consent of all its Members, from implementing its functions even at any time during which the House is adjourned for more than seven days as above-mentioned.

(8) The procedure provided for in this article shall not apply to Acting appointments made for a maximum period of up to six months.