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Timeshare regulations published, but not yet in force The Minister of Tourism, acting on the recommendation of the Malta Tourism Authority, has enacted subsidiary regulations by Legal Notice 269 of 2000 entitled "Protection of Buyers in Contracts for Time Sharing of Immovable Property Regulations, 2000". The regulations were made in exercise of the powers conferred by the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act, which established the MTA. The Regulations follow EU Directive 94/47/EC and establish the minimum protection required under this Directive. The Regulations do not only protect timeshare buyers who are non-resident in Malta (and who still form the bulk of timeshare buyers in Malta), but also Maltese nationals by providing that "the seller shall provide the buyer with a certified translation of the contract in Maltese or English as the buyer may so request." (Reg 6.2) The Enforcement of the Regulations will be exercised by the Director of Enforcement of the MTA who may perform his functions under the regulations by, amongst others, seizing, inspecting and taking copies of documents from any business or related activity conducting timeshare operations. The Regulations include a Schedule which contains a minimum list of items to be included in a timeshare contract. The purpose behind this list is to ensure, as much as possible, disclosure of information. The buyer (as in the EU Directive) has a right to withdraw or cancel the contract within ten days from signing. A clause to this effect must be included in the contract (the Regulations provide the wording) and in no case can this right be waived. For more
information on the Directive read the original article published on this site (click
here) and refer to the Europa website for the full text of the Directive. The regulations are not, as yet, published on the Ministry of Justice web site, and are not yet in force. They are likely to be effective from June this year.
Related
links: Full text
of the Directive
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