Updating Maltese broadcasting law to present day realities in the light of the doctrines of the rule of law and of the separation of powers

Abstract

After having spent more than ten years of my working career at the Broadcasting Authority. I think that the time is ripe for me to reflect on this experience with a view to contribute at writing a short paper as to how Maltese Broadcasting Law can be updated. Indeed, the Broadcasting Act was enacted in 1991 , that is, twenty years ago. Since then the enactment was amended piecemeal several times and the latest amendments are of last year. Parliament has over the last two years amended the Broadcasting Act twice, first to regulate in more detail satellite broadcasting' and then to bring our law in line with the European Union Audiovisual Media Services Directive. This Directive had to be transposed into Maltese Law by I 9 December 2009.We are also witnessing media adverts stating that Government has fixed the analogue television switch off date for June 2011. This entails the making of fresh amendments to the Broadcasting Act and, indeed, at the moment of writing, Parliament is currently debating Bill No. 75, a bill to amend once again t he Broadcasting Act. This means that within a period of three years, the Broadcasting Act would have been amended trice. Hence, there is no doubt that a lot of fast developments are taking place in this branch of the law and I would venture to say that we need to do some catching up as well at revising current provisions as I will explain hereunder.