S.L. 499.57 ст. 2Interpretation. Cap. 588. Cap. 588. Cap. 499. Cap. 460. Cap. 363. Cap. 552. Cap. 588. Cap. 552. Cap. 588. Cap. 588.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings:

"accident report" means a preliminary report drawn up solely for purposes of data management which shall, in as far as possible, include the elements listed in Annex IV to Directive 2008/96/EC;

"arterial and distributor roads" has the same meaning as is given to it in the Agency for Infrastructure Malta Act;

"the Agency" shall mean the Agency for Infrastructure Malta as established by and under the Agency for Infrastructure Malta Act;

"the Authority" means the Authority for Transport in Malta established under the Authority for Transport in Malta Act;

"application" means an application for any road works permit;

"applicant" means the person commissioning the road works, and includes the Agency for Infrastructure Malta;

"certificate of competence" means a certificate of competence issued to road safety auditors by the Authority in terms of Regulation 12D;

"Commission" means the European Commission as established by Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union;

"communications service provider" means an operator who provides an electronic communications service using, for such purpose, facilities placed in or under or on a public road;

"competent entity" means the public entity or private developer that has appointed the road safety auditor for the purposes of carrying out the road safety audits;

"completion period" means the specified period in which all works covered by the permit shall be completed;

"contractor" means an undertaking commissioned by an applicant to undertake road works and which has the professional and technical means to carry out any road works and which shall annually provide the Authority with a bank guarantee for the amount of up to fifteen thousand euro (€15,000);

"Directive 2008/96/EC" means Directive 2008/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on road infrastructure safety management as amended by Directive (EU) 2019/1936 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019;

"emergency works" means works which are required to be executed following failure of underground utility or communications services or works the carrying out of which is urgently required in order to prevent or put an end to, or reduce the risk of loss, injury or damage to persons or property;

"improvement" includes the widening, re-aligning and re-shaping of roads;

"the European Union" has the same meaning as is given to it in the European Union Act and includes Norway, Iceland and

Liechtenstein;

"guidelines" means measures adopted by the Authority laying down the steps to be followed and the elements to be considered in applying the safety procedures set out in Part II bis;

"infrastructure project" means a project for the construction of new road infrastructure or a substantial modification to the existing network which affects the traffic flow;

"inhabited area" means any area in which there is an aggregation of residential buildings inhabited or capable of being inhabited by more than one hundred persons, or any other area designated as such by the Minister in consultation with the Authority;

"Local Council" means a local government council established in terms of the Local Government Act;

"local plan" has the same meaning as is given to it in the

Development Planning Act;

"local road" has the same meaning as is given to it in the

Agency for Infrastructure Malta Act;

"maintenance" in relation to public roads includes improvement and management;

"major works" means any road works which are neither minor works nor emergency works; "Planning Authority" means the Planning Authority as established under the Development Planning Act;

"Member State" means a Member State of the European Union;

"the Minister" means the Minister responsible for infrastructure;

"minor works" shall include works consisting of -

(a) the connection of a consumer to a service provided by, or intended to be provided by, a utility service provider or a communications service provider and which includes trenching not exceeding a total area of three square metres;

(b) using an access hole for the purpose of ducting, assessing, repairing or maintaining infrastructure under a road without effecting traffic flow not requiring excavation;

(c) the excavation of trial pits to assess or detect buried infrastructure;

(d) the placing of any thing in any road that directly or indirectly causes obstruction to the traffic flow;

(e) the installation, repair or maintenance of traffic control items and inhabited road furniture not requiring excavations;

(f) routine road maintenance in local roads, arterial and distributor roads;

"new road" includes the extension of an existing road;

"occupier" means any person who is lawfully in possession of or exercising control over any land;

"other EU funded road projects" means roads and road infrastructure projects situated outside urban areas which do not serve properties bordering on them, and do not serve asaccess roads to industrial estates or agricultural sites, which are completed using European Union funding in whole or in part;

"owner", in relation to land or other immovable property, means any person who owns the land or any person representing the owner in the administration of the land concerned, or acting on behalf of the owner or assuming the character of owner, according to circumstances;

"periodic road safety inspection" means an ordinary periodical verification of the characteristics and defects that require maintenance work for reasons of safety;

"permit" means a road works permit required from the Authority under the provisions of these regulations;

"person" means any natural or legal person;

"primary road" means a road of the highest classification situated outside urban areas, that connects major cities or regions, as classified in the Third Schedule to these regulations;"

"project owner" means a person appointed by an applicant for major road works permit, who shall be completely responsible for the application and whose position within the applicant entity would allow him to take decisions on his own in a reasonably short time and give direction to his team;

"private road" has the same meaning as is given to it in the

Agency for Infrastructure Malta Act;

"public road" means any road not being a private road, which includes both arterial and distributor roads and local roads;

"residential building" means a structure used for the dwelling of a person or persons and includes any house, mezzanine, garage, room, store or other building;

"RISM Road System" means roads which are part of the Trans-European Road Network and other primary roads illustrated in the Third Schedule and other EU funded road projects;

"road" has the same meaning as is given to it in the Agency for

Infrastructure Malta Act;

"road safety audit" means an independent detailed systematic and technical safety check relating to the design characteristics of a road infrastructure project and covering all stages from planning to early operation;

"road safety impact assessment" means a strategic comparative analysis of the impact of a new road or a substantial modification to the existing network on the safety performance of the road network, as defined in guidelines published by the Authority;

"road works" means any intervention on existing roads, including major road maintenance, the breaking up or opening of a road, trenching works, the construction or reconstruction of footways or carriageways, alterations in carriageways and footways, traffic calming measures, the construction or removal of road humps, and any intervention that alters or seeks to re-instate the surface of an existing road; "routine road maintenance" means actions performed on a regular basis in order to keep a road safe and fit for travel, actions performed to prevent deterioration where possible, and actions performed to return the appearance of the road surface to good condition; it includes, but is not limited to, patching pot holes, surface patching, crack sealing and filling, cleaning of roads, drains and culverts; installing traffic signs and signals; replacing damaged signs and road markings, controlling roadside brush and vegetation;

"targeted road safety inspection" means a targeted investigation to identify hazardous conditions, defects and problems that increase the risk of accidents and injuries, based on a site visit of an existing road or section of road;

"tenement" means any building or land separated from a road by a wall;

"traffic management schemes" means schemes for the management of traffic in various events with a combination of network planning and engineering measures to enhance road safety, with the aim to alleviate the adverse effects of motorized traffic including traffic signal controlled junctions, parking regulation, traffic calming, pedestrian and cycle route improvements and road signing also for road works and temporary situations;

"trans-European road network" means the road network identified in Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU, as identified in the Third Schedule;

"trenching" means the construction of an excavation made below the surface of the road for the purpose of accessing, installing, repairing and maintaining of utilities under a road;

"underground utility" means any electric, communications, water, sewer or drainage service or means of transmission that is installed beneath the surface of a road;

"undertaking" means any entity, including any person, engaged in economic activity, regardless of its legal status and the way in which it is financed;

"utility service provider" means an authority or an enterprise, the primary business of which is to provide electricity or communication or gas or water or sewage to the public. The utility provider may be the Government or may be publicly or privately owned;

"vulnerable road user" means non-motorised road users, including, in particular, cyclists and pedestrians, as well as users of powered two-wheelers.