Government forced to amend 'discriminatory law' on police safety by European Commission

The European Commission has told off the Maltese government on an 'anomaly' in Maltese legislation that did not provide for the safety and security on the workplace for police officers according to the Malta Police Association (MPA) and that the Maltese government amended the legislation upon the body's recommendation.

In October of 2016, the MPA wrote to the Commission claiming that the Maltese police force was completely ignored from the scope of the EU Directive on Health and Safety on the Workplace when being implemented by Maltese legislators.

"This limitation in the law was resulting in the rights of members of the police force to be seriously prejudiced when it comes to health and safety because the services offered by the Occupational Health & Safety Authority were not available to the force," the MPA said in a statement on Tuesday.

It added that after three years, the European Commission had returned to the association saying that it had pressed the Maltese government to amend the anomaly in the legislation. 

"I am pleased to inform you that following intervention by the Commission with the authorities of Malta, Malta amended its legislation by the adoption of 'Occupational Health and Safety Authority (Amendment) Act, 2019' (Act XXVII of 2019), which was published in the Government Gazette of Malta on 25 October 2019 (Government Gazette of Malta Number 20,285)," the Commission wrote.

"Once again, the MPA can say that it managed to incite substantial change with regard to the police force. This means that from now on, when a member of the force feels that his or her health and safety is being violated, it can revert to the OHSA," MPA said.