[WATCH] 152 outdated laws to be repealed

152 outdated laws repealed • Video by Ray Attard

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced the repealing of the first set of laws considered "outdated" or no longer valid in today's society.

Briefing Speaker Anglu Farrugia on 'Repeals Day', Muscat said today marks the first day when a set of laws will be repealed.

In this first process, a total of 152 laws will be repealed. Muscat said that 35 of these were parliamentary laws while 116 were subsidiary laws.

"A lot of work has been carried out over the past eight months by various entities to identify those laws which are no longer valid or have been superseded or substituted," Muscat said.

He said that outdated laws hindered processes by creating anomalies. Muscat said the repealing of laws should become "a regular event".

The "cleansing of laws" may also occur on more recent legislation that needs to be updated.

There are 563 Chapters of Law, set over 200 years. By way of example, capital punishment is still listed in the Maltese Constitution even though it is against government's policy.

Muscat said a system by which a legal notice is repealed when the respective law is not extended by parliament will be introduced.

He also suggested that in certain cases, "self-regulation" should take over.

Speaker Anglu Farrugia defined this process as "a good exercise", noting that anomalies are created with the enactment of European laws when Maltese legislation is not brought in line.

The goal of Repeals Day is to decrease red tape while saving on government costs, including adequate use of human resources.

Addressing a more formal briefing, Dean of the Faculty of Laws Kevin Aquilina said that the repealing of law was required in a modern society.

The Law Commission is also discussing the sunset clause: the clause makes it possible for a law to have a "best before date". Aquilina said such a clause helps legislators plan better, allowing parliament to stipulate timeframes by when the particular law is implemented.

"If parliament chooses to extend the law's timeline, parliament must also explain why the law had not been implemented in its totality according to the stipulated deadline," he said.

Aquilina added that such a clause - which cannot be applied to all legislation - made MPs were more accountable to their parliamentary work.