Consumer and financial services legislation - some reflections on the Maltese position

Abstract

These past 20 years have witnessed very substantial developments in the legislation relating to consumer protection and the provision of financial services. During this period, the law in these two areas has evolved rather rapidly and beyond recognition. However, it is not always easy to decipher whether and how the two sets of laws dovetail with each other. It would be therefore interesting to explore whether the two sectors constitute a coherent framework and whether there are lessons that two sectors may learn from one another. Many of the legislative changes were homegrown, but significant influence has been predictably exerted by the island's moves towards accession to the European Union. Indeed, one may claim that in the past 10 years, EU law has become the most important inspiration for new legislation. Independently of the growing EU influence on both its formal and substantive aspects, the Maltese legal system already presents a sophisticated and comprehensive framework. It is also an increasingly complex framework. One can speculate whether the complexity of our legal framework may be a reflection of the varied foreign influences that have designed the island's history. Over the years, Malta has been ruled by a series of foreign powers too numerous to list. These have included the Romans, the Greeks, the Phoenicians, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Knights of St. John and, albeit for a few years, the French under Napoleon. For long stretches of its history, the island used to form part of the Italian mainland to its north. More recently, roughly between 1800 and 1964, Malta formed part of the British Empire. For all these reasons, Roman law, Italian law and English law have all contributed towards the development of Maltese legal rules and culture.