Malta

VERŻJONI ELETTRONIKA

B 809

(g) the prescribed fee for a request for approvalof a collecting society".

3. Regulation 5 of the principal regulations shall be amendedas follows:

(a) for sub-regulation (1) thereof, there shall be substituted the following:

"(1) As soon as practicable after the receipt of a

request for the approval of a collecting society, the Board

shall:

(a)

issue an acknowledgement of receipt of the request to the applicant indicating therein a reasonable time period for the processing of theapplication:

Provided that such period shall apply if allthe required documentation has been submitted and no written objection is received following the publication of the request and the tariffs;

(b)

in the event that the requireddocumentation or information is not submitted with the application, the Board shall issue a notification tothe applicant requesting the submission of the missing documentation and information. The Boardshall inform the applicant that the time periodcommunicated in the acknowledgement issued interms of the preceding paragraph will have to bereviewed and that the new time period will be notified to the applicant upon receipt of the missingdocumentation;

(c)

in the event that the missing documentation is received by the Board, which documentation is to be submitted with the prescribedfee, the Board shall issue an acknowledgement to theapplicant indicating therein a reasonable time periodfor the continued consideration of the applicationsubject to there not being any written objectionsfollowing the publication of the request and the tariffs;

Amends regulation 5 ofthe principalregulations.

B 810

(d)

following the receipt of all the requireddocumentation, as soon as practicable, the Boardshall publish the request together with the proposedtariffs in the Gazette and shall give notice that,within sixty days after publication, prospective usersor their representatives may file written objections,to the request or the tariffs, with the Board. Theseobjections shall be accompanied by the prescribedfee and shall be submitted on the basis of the provisions of regulation 4(3);

(e)

the Board shall publish a notice in twolocal newspapers thereby referring to the publicationof the request and tariffs in the Gazette; and

(f)

all publication costs in the Gazette and thelocal newspapers shall be borne by the applicant.";

(b) for sub-regulation (2) thereof, there shall be substituted the following:

"(2) Following the lapse of sixty days as specifiedin sub-regulation (1):

(a)

in the event that no objections to the request and tariffs are made, the Board shall approveor refuse the request for operation of a collectingsociety within the time period indicated in the acknowledgement issued by the Board in accordancewith regulation 5(1)(a) and (c) as the case may beand taking into consideration regulation 4(3), (4) and(5); and

(b)

in the event that objections to the requestand tariffs are made, the Board shall approve orrefuse the request for operation of a collectingsociety within a reasonable time period, taking intoconsideration regulation 4(3), (4) and (5) and thegrounds of the objections received.";

(c) immediately after sub-regulation (2) thereof, thereshall be inserted the following new sub-regulation:

VERŻJONI ELETTRONIKA

B 811

"(3) In considering any request for operation of acollecting society, the Board may call upon the collectingsociety and any person who has made an objection undersub-regulation (1)(d) for further representations, and shallprovide the collecting society with the opportunity toamend its request as deemed necessary."; and

(d) sub-regulations (3) and (4) thereof shall be
renumbered as sub-regulations (4) and (5) respectively.

4. Regulation 6 of the principal regulations shall be amendedAmends

regulation 6 of

as follows:

the principalregulations.

(a)

for sub-regulation (1) thereof, there shall be
substituted the following:

"(1) An approved tariff shall be effective untilsuch time as a new tariff is approved."; and

(b)

in sub-regulation (2) thereof, for the words "After
the two years specified in subregulation (1) have elapsed," there
shall be substituted the words "Not less than six months and not
more than eight months before the lapse of the period of two
calendar years from the date when it was published in the
Gazette,".

5. Immediately after sub-regulation (2) of regulation 9 of theAmends

regulation 9 of

principal regulations, there shall be inserted the following: _{the principal}

regulations.

"(3) A request for information made in terms of sub-
regulations (1) and (2) shall be made either to the collecting
society directly or together with the payment of the prescribed
fee to the competent authority falling within the Ministry
responsible for intellectual property. The competent authority
will inform the Board of the request. The Board shall consider
the request and if found reasonable in terms of sub-regulation
(2), the Board shall:

(a)

provide access to the information required ifthis has already been made available to the Board by thecollecting society; or

(b)

request such information from the collectingsociety and forward the information obtained to the personrequesting it.

B 812

Amends regulation 13 ofthe principalregulations.

Adds Schedule to the principalregulations.

(4) The competent authorityshall cooperate with the designatedentity in accordance with article 10(3) of the Services (Internal

Cap. 500.

Market) Act to ensure that generalinformation on the requirements applicable in other Member States relating to access to, and exercise ofcollecting societies and the means orredress available in the case of a dispute concerning a recipient of theservices of a collecting society, iseasily accessible to providers and recipients.".

6. Sub-regulation (3) of regulation 13 of the principal regulations shall be amended as follows:

(a)

for the words "a collecting society shall finish"there shall be substituted the words "a collecting society shallfurnish"; and

(b)

for the words "the collecting society to comply until its request" there shall be substituted the words "the collecting society to comply with its request".

7. Immediately after regulation 14 of the principal regulations there shall be added the following schedule: