Annex 2: international instruments

• Author: Ellul, Tonio
• Pages: 93-95

93

ANNEX 2: INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

Country: Malta

Date: 31 December 2019

Instrument

Date of

signature

Date of

ratification

Derogations/

reservations

relevant to

equality and

non-

discrimination

Right of

individual

petition

accepted?

Can this

instrument

be directly

relied upon

in domestic

courts by

individuals?

All the

answers in

this field are

subject to the

underneath

footnote229

European

Convention on

Human Rights

(ECHR)

12.12.1966

23.01.1967

No

Yes

Yes

Protocol 12,

ECHR

08.12.2015

08.12.2015

No

No

No

Revised

European

Social Charter

27.07.2005

27.07.2005

No230

Ratified

collective

complaints

protocol?

No

Yes

International

Covenant on

Civil and

Political

Rights

Not signed

13.09.1990

(accession)

The

Government of

Malta

interprets231

and reserves232

Yes

Yes

229 Dr Andrew Azzopardi from the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Legal Department confirms that, as a

general rule, treaties, conventions or international instruments signed and/or ratified by Malta may not be

directly relied upon in domestic courts by individuals, unless they are transposed and/or adopted into

Maltese law. In general, this transposition is very rarely done. An example is the transposition of the Council

of Europe Convention on Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence

(Istanbul, 1 August 2014) into the Council of Europe Convention on Prevention and Combating of Violence

against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification) Act (Chapter 532 of the Laws of Malta) in 2014. [The

latter and the Domestic Violence Act (Chapter 481 of the Laws of Malta) were eventually repealed by Act

XIII of 2018, which made provisions for the substantive articles of the Council of Europe Convention on

Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence enforceable as part of the

Laws of Malta, mainly through the Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Violence Act 2018 (Chapter 581 of

the Laws of Malta).]

As a matter of policy, Maltese law is generally amended so as to reflect the provisions of any convention or

international instrument that Malta is intending to sign or ratify. Therefore, as a matter of policy, Maltese

law is broadly in line with all the conventions or other international instruments that it chooses to sign or

ratify. This means that individuals may rely persuasively on the international instrument in domestic courts

and mention the relevant international instrument in domestic courts. However, the corresponding Maltese

law relating to the provisions of that international instrument should also be directly relied on in domestic

courts by individuals primarily.

230 Malta has not accepted all the provisions of the Revised Charter.

231 Article 20 consistently with the rights conferred by Articles 19 and 21 of the Covenant but reserves the right

not to introduce any legislation for the purposes of Article 20.

232 The right not to apply Article 22 to the extent that existing legislative measures may not be fully compatible

with this article.