S.L. 330.7 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires -

"the Act" means the Malta Financial Services Authority Act; "Arbiter" means the Arbiter for Financial Services appointed under article 14 of the Arbiter for Financial Services Act;

"Central Bank" means the Central Bank of Malta as defined by the

Central Bank of Malta Act; "the Commission" means the Commission of the European Community; "the competent authority" means the Malta Financial Services Authority as established by the Act; "consumer" means any natural person who, in a distance contract acts for purposes which fall outside the trade, business or profession of such person;

"the CRD" means Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on the access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms, amending Directive 2002/ 87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC, as amended from time to time, and includes any implementing measures that have been or may be issued thereunder; "distance contract" means any contract concerning a financial service concluded between a supplier and a consumer under an organised distance sales or service-provision scheme run by the supplier, who, for the purpose of that contract, makes exclusive use of one or more means of distance communication up to and including the time at which the contract is concluded;

"Distance Marketing Directive" means Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services and amending Council Directive 90/619/EEC and Directives 97/7/ EC and 98/27/EC;

"durable medium" means any instrument which enables the consumer to store information addressed personally to the consumer in a way accessible for future reference for a period of time adequate for the purposes of the information and which allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored, including in particular floppy discs, CD-ROMs, DVDs and the hard drive of the consumer’s computer on which the electronic mail is stored, but excluding Internet websites unless these otherwise fall within this definition of a durable medium; "EEA State" means any 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 17th March 1993 and as amended from time to time;

"Electronic Money Directive" means Directive 2009/110/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions amending Directives 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 2000/46/EC, as may be amended from time to time, and includes any implementing measures, implementing technical standards, regulatory technical standards and similar measures that have been or may be issued thereunder; "European Community" means the organisation established by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and amended institutionally and otherwise in 1986 by the Single European Act, in 1993 by the Treaty on European Union, in 1997 by the Treaty of Amsterdam and in 2001 by the Treaty of Nice and as amended by accession agreements and as may be further amended from time to time; "financial service" means any service of a banking, credit, insurance, personal pension, investment or payment nature and shall include all services the carrying out of which requires a licence or other authorisation from the competent authority or which otherwise fall under its supervisory functions; "initial service agreement" means a primary agreement from which secondary agreements may result such as but not limited to -

(i) the opening of a bank account;

(ii) acquiring a credit card; or

(iii) concluding a portfolio management contract; "intermediary" refers to a person who, acting as an intermediary, has been involved to a relevant or material degree in the conclusion of a distant contract, and this irrespective of his legal status or relationship with the supplier;

"list of qualified entities" means the list compiled and updated by the Commission and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities listing the qualified entities in Member States and EEA States in accordance with Article 4 of the Directive 98/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19th May 1998 on injunctions for the protection of consumer interests; "means of distance communication" refers to any method which, without the simultaneous physical presence of the supplier and the consumer, may be used for the distance marketing of a service between those parties, including unaddressed printed matter, addressed printed matter, standard letters, press advertising with orders, catalogues, telephone with human intervention, telephone without human intervention (automatic calling machines, audiotext), radio, videophone (telephone with screen), videotext (microcomputer and telephone screen) with keyboard or touch screen, electronic mail, facsimile machine (fax) and television (teleshopping); "Member State" means a member of the European Community; "payment service" means any business activity set out in the Second Schedule to the Financial Institutions Act;

"Payment Services Directive" means Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/ EC, as may be amended from time to time, and includes any implementing measures, implementing technical standards, regulatory technical standards and similar measures that have been or may be issued thereunder; "payment service provider" means:

(a) credit institutions as defined in article 2(1) of the Banking Act, including branches thereof as defined in article 2(1) of the Banking Act where such branches are located in the European Union, irrespective of whether the head offices of those branches are located within the European Union or, in accordance with Article 47 of the CRD and with national law, outside the European Union;

(b) electronic money institutions as defined in article 2(1) of the Financial Institutions Act, being companies, that have been granted authorisation under Title II of the Electronic Money Directive to issue electronic money, including, in accordance with Article 8 of that Directive and with national law, branches thereof, where such branches are located within the European Union and their head offices are located outside the European Union, in as far as the payment services provided by those branches are linked to the issuance of electronic money;

(c) post office giro institutions which are entitled under national law of any Member State to provide payment services;

(d) payment institutions as defined in article 2(1) of the Financial Institutions Act;

(e) account information service providers as defined in article 2(1) of the Financial Institutions Act;

(f) the European Central Bank and national central banks when not acting in their capacity as monetary authority or other public authorities; or

(g) Member States or their regional or local authorities when not acting in their capacity as public authorities. "personal pension arrangement" means any savings arrangement for retirement which is supplemental to a State pension or an occupational pension scheme being a pension arrangement offered through the employer; "professional" means any person engaged in work -

(a) involving the exercise of discretion and judgment in its performance;

(b) requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of learning; and

(c) including but not limited to persons authorised to provide expert assistance with investment, estate, retirement and financial planning; employee benefits; business and compensation planning; and life, health, disability, and long-term care insurance;

"qualified entity" means:

(a) a registered consumer association within the meaning of Part IV of the Consumer Affairs Act;

(b) one or more independent public bodies, having a legitimate interest in ensuring the protection of the collective interests of consumers of financial services by distance contracts in other Member States or EEA States in which such bodies exist;

(c) voluntary organisations in other Member States or EEA States whose purpose is to protect the interests referred to in paragraph (b) of this definition in accordance with the criteria laid down by their national law;

(d) organisations recognised by the competent authority as collectively representing professional financial service suppliers; or

(e) any qualified entity from a Member State or EEA State included in the list of qualified entities; "supplier" means any natural or legal person providing a financial service at a distance by virtue of a distance contract, including any person involved as an intermediary in any of the marketing stages of the distance contact.

(2) Words and expressions used in these regulations which are also used in the Act shall have the same meanings as in the Act.