Cap. 592 Art. 15Appointment of resident agent.

(1) When the persons making an application for any form of recognition are not ordinarily resident in Malta, such applicant is required to appoint in writing prior to registration, a resident agent who -

(a) is habitually resident in Malta;

(b) is not interdicted or incapacitated or is an undischarged bankrupt;

(c) has not been convicted of any of the crimes affecting public trust or of theft or of fraud or money laundering or of knowingly receiving property obtained by theft or fraud; and

(d) has satisfied the Authority that he is a person capable of carrying out the functions stated under this Act.

(2) In case of a legal organisation, such organisation shall be considered as not being habitually resident in Malta for the purposes of this article if none of:

(a) the members of its board of administrators or secretary; and

(b) its senior officers, being the chief executive officer, the chief operations officer or its chief technology officer, are habitually resident in Malta.

(3) The holder of an innovative technology authorisation shall ensure that it has a validly appointed resident agent at all times when there is no person involved in the administration of the holder who is resident in Malta:

Provided that:

(a) if both the innovative technology arrangement and the technical administrator appointed with reference to it are not resident in Malta, the appointment of a resident agent for the technical administrator shall satisfy the requirement under this article also for the innovative technology arrangement for as long as such technical administrator is engaged and the engagement of the resident agent is made by the technical administrator also for the innovative technology arrangement on being authorised to do so; and

(b) when an innovative technology arrangement is made up of several constituent parts - DLT and smart contracts - which may each obtain a certification under this Act, it shall be lawful for all applicants to designate the main constituent part and thereafter all the ancillary parts shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of this article if the engagement of the resident agent with reference to the main constituent part names all the ancillary parts and confirms that the applicant is authorised to do so with reference to the said ancillary parts.

(4) Notices of the appointment, resignation or removal of the resident agent shall be filed with the Authority in the prescribed form, and until such form is issued by means of a notification in writing and where a notice of appointment is given it shall be accompanied by the acceptance in writing of the resident agent of such appointment.

(5) The Authority may at any time refuse or reject any notice of an appointment which it considers is not in compliance with this Act and in such case the applicant or the innovative technology authorisation holder, as the case may be, shall immediately appoint another resident agent.