Cap. 590 ст. 57Confidentiality. 

(1) Information obtained by the competent authority or by its officers, employees or agents, as well as by auditors, inspectors or any other persons engaged by the competent authority for the purposes of, or pursuant to, any of the provisions of this Act, or of any regulations made or rules issued thereunder, or in the discharge of any functions under any of the said provisions, shall be treated as confidential and protected by the duty of professional secrecy, and shall not be disclosed to any other person, except in the following cases:

(a) where the disclosure is required for the detection, prevention or prosecution of criminal offences under the criminal provisions of this Act or any other law;

(b) where the information is disclosed with a view to the institution of, or otherwise for the purposes of any proceedings by the competent authority before any court under this Act;

(c) where the information is disclosed in civil or commercial proceedings in relation to the bankruptcy or dissolution and consequential winding up by the court of an issuer or licence holder, provided such information does not concern third parties and is necessary for the carrying out of the proceedings, or is disclosed to an overseas body responsible for the liquidation and bankruptcy of a person holding a licence or an equivalent authorisation from a European regulatory authority or an overseas regulatory authority;

(d) where a summary or collection of the information is prepared or supplied in such a way as not to enable the identity of any persons, to whom the information relates to be ascertained;

(e) where the information is disclosed to an auditor where such disclosure would assist it in the exercise of his functions under article 50;

(f) where the information is provided to the Central Bank of Malta in the exercise of its functions in terms of law;

(g) where the information is provided to such other local or European or overseas regulatory, judicial or enforcement authorities in the pursuance of serious concerns of a regulatory or criminal nature:

Provided that the provisions of this article shall not prevent the competent authority from exchanging or transmitting confidential information belonging to issuers or licence holders to ESAs or the ESRB:

Provided further that the provisions of this article shall not prevent the competent authority from using such information for other purposes where the body or person communicating information to the competent authority consents thereto.

(2) The provisions of this article shall not preclude the competent authority from transmitting to the Central Bank of Malta, the ESCB and the ECB, in their capacity as monetary authorities, and, where appropriate, to recognised clearing houses or other similar body performing clearing or settlement services, and to other public authorities responsible for overseeing payment and settlement systems, confidential information intended for the performance of their functions. Likewise, the competent authority shall be entitled to the receipt of such information as it may require for the purpose of performing its functions under the Act.

(3) Where an officer or an employee of an issuer or licence holder has reason to believe that a transaction or a proposed transaction could involve money laundering or the funding of terrorism, he shall act in compliance with the reporting and other obligations set out in the regulations made under article 12 of the

Prevention of Money Laundering Act and any procedures and guidance issued thereunder, and such disclosure shall not constitute a breach of confidentiality.