MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Chiara Frendo, Ganado Advocates
14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform A draft legislative proposal was presented to Malta’s legislative body in the third quarter of 2022. It proposes, amongst other things, amend- ments to Malta civil procedural law to provide additional safeguards for journalists and pro- tections against strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPPS), including the following: • a proposed prohibition from issuing interim court measures in support of libel and defa- mation proceedings; • the possibility for a court to dismiss a law- suit during the preliminary hearing where the defendant proves that it is manifestly unfounded; and • new grounds to refuse the recognition of foreign judgments ordering monetary pay- ment against authors, editors and publishers in Malta. An amended draft legislative proposal was pre- sented to Malta’s legislative body in the second quarter of 2023, further elaborating on the above changes to the current legislative framework. This is still awaiting Parliament’s position in first reading. 14.2 Growth Areas It is envisaged that the main area of growth for commercial disputes in Malta is in the realm of digital and financial technology. In line with the country’s Digital Malta Strategy, there has been an ongoing strong focus on establishing and maintaining Malta as an attractive jurisdiction for both attracting investment, as well as set- tling disputes in these sectors. This growth is, in fact, driven by the enactment of key legislation in this area over the past few years.
Appeals against arbitral awards can also be filed with the Court of Appeal. However, this right of appeal may only be exercised in domestic arbi- trations or if the parties have agreed in writing to do so. Furthermore, under mandatory arbitra- tion, parties have the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal both on issues of fact and on issues of law. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration Domestic awards in procedures that have been initiated by means of a notice of arbitration and delivered by arbitrators under the auspices of the MAC are recognised as executive titles and can be enforced in Malta in exactly the same manner as court judgments. Foreign arbitration awards must also be reg- istered with the MAC, whereby they will be enforced by the courts of Malta in the same manner as domestic arbitral awards. This applies to foreign arbitral awards to which the treaties set out in the Second Schedule to the Malta Arbitration Act (ie, the Geneva Convention, the Geneva Protocol, and the New York Convention) are applicable. A registration application will be served upon the judgment debtor who will have the opportunity, within a specified time period, to object to the registration on any of the grounds specified in those conventions. The entity designated as the competent entity for recognition and enforcement under the New York Convention is the chairperson of the Malta Arbitration Centre. Decisions regarding recogni- tion and enforcement delivered by the chairper- son of the MAC may be appealed to the Court of Appeal.
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