PN files motion to repeal court director powers to delete judgements

The Nationalist Party will file a motion on Monday to repeal a legal notice that granted powers to the court director to remove judgements from the online court system.

“We are using our right to bring a motion to parliament to have this legal notice be removed entirely,” MP Karol Aquilina said during a press conference.

Legal Notice 456 grants the court director power to anonymise or remove judgements from the court system on “right to be forgotten” grounds.

In principle, Aquilina said the party is in favour of anonymising judgements but against the removal of sentences in their entirety.

“We need to hold everyone accountable,” he said.

MP Therese Comodini Cachia added that the Opposition is not only objecting to the legal notice but asking for it to be annulled and repealed.

“The way in which discretion was granted, with no clear criteria, creates legal uncertainty,” she warned.

Under the Interpretation Act, parliament has a period 60 days to discuss the motion and eventually resolve to annul or amend the notice.

This is because the legal notice was tabled in parliament two weeks ago. The Act states that a motion may be tabled within 28 days after the legislation is laid in order for Parliament to annul or amend the notice.

Many have expressed concern over the discretion granted by the legal notice. Numerous media houses and NGOs, including MaltaToday, signed a letter to Prime Minister Robert Abela expressing serious qualms with the legislation while warning that it may impinge on fundamental human rights. 

They argued that the amendment would deny journalists and the general public the ability to research all past court judgements online, by giving the courts director unfettered power to delete them if so requested. 

Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis justified the legal notice by saying it was already in practice. People would write to the court agency and the Court would decide, “according to principles”, whether to remove one’s name or not from the website.

In 2018, MaltaToday revealed that 22 such rulings had already been removed; and while the problem does not necessarily concern any of those particular cases – all of which were broadly aligned with all the usual reasons for a court ban on the publications of names – the fact remains that the director of the Maltese law-courts has hitherto enjoyed full discretion to process such requests, without any form of transparency or accountability whatsoever.