MaltaBroadcasting Act, accessibility of media services for persons with disabilities (articles 16JB and 22A) and the penalty for contravention
Broadcasting Act (Chapter 350), arts. 16JB, 22A, 41 and Fifth Schedule
In force.
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you are a media service provider (editorial responsibility for a television or on-demand audiovisual media service), ensure without undue delay, by a progressive and continuous process and proportionate measures, that your content is accessible to persons with disabilities (art. 16JB(1)); this implements Article 7 of Directive 2010/13/EU as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/1808.
- Submit to the Broadcasting Authority an action plan detailing the measures adopted, which the article says media services "should" do no later than six months after its entry into force, and update the plan at least once every two years; the Authority may request changes to the plan or its updates if it considers they do not effectively reflect the obligations (art. 16JB(1)).
- Present a properly documented report to the Authority each year on the progress made in implementing the measures (art. 16JB(2)).
- Ensure that emergency information, including public communications and announcements in natural disaster situations, that you make available through audiovisual media services is provided in a manner accessible to persons with disabilities (art. 16JB(4)).
- On an accessibility complaint, send the Authority a written reply with the documents you consider relevant within the time-limit the Chief Executive fixes, and, where the complaint is found prima facie justified, comply with your action plan within the reasonable time the Chief Executive sets (art. 22A(3) and (5)).
- If you fail to comply with your action plan within the time the Chief Executive sets, comply with any directive the Authority issues to you under article 15 to comply with it (art. 22A(6)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
The Fifth Schedule sets EUR 1,160 for article 16JB and EUR 4,660 for article 15, each increased by twenty percent for every subsequent violation, and its paragraph 1 lets the Authority go higher for a grave offence; article 41(4)(c) bars a penalty higher than EUR 11,646, or another amount the Prime Minister prescribes by order that does not exceed EUR 34,940, so EUR 11,646 is the ceiling.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 11,646
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Broadcasting Authority, which receives accessibility complaints through the Chief Executive under article 22A and punishes the administrative offences listed in the Fifth Schedule under article 41 of the Broadcasting Act
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- a media service provider, meaning the natural or legal person who has editorial responsibility for the choice of the audiovisual content of an audiovisual media service (a television broadcast or an on-demand audiovisual media service) and determines the manner in which it is organised
What this law does
Article 16JB(1) of the Broadcasting Act requires media services provided by media service providers to ensure, without undue delay and by a progressive and continuous process, that content is accessible to persons with disabilities by means of proportionate measures.
Article 16JB(1) provides that media services should submit an action plan detailing the measures adopted no later than six months after the entry into force of the article, that media service providers shall update it at least once every two years, and that the Broadcasting Authority may request changes if it considers they do not effectively reflect the obligations.
Each year media service providers must present a properly documented report to the Authority on the progress made in implementing the necessary measures. Media service providers must ensure that emergency information, including public communications and announcements in natural disaster situations, made available through audiovisual media services is provided in a manner accessible to persons with disabilities.
The Authority designates a single online point of contact for information and complaints about accessibility, and article 22A sets the complaint procedure. Under article 22A the Chief Executive investigates a complaint by checking whether the provider followed its action plan, fixes a short and peremptory time-limit for the provider's written reply, and, if the complaint is prima facie justified, sets a reasonable time for the provider to comply with the plan.
If the provider fails to comply within that time, the Authority may issue a directive to comply with the action plan in terms of article 15. A media service provider is the natural or legal person who has editorial responsibility for the choice of the audiovisual content of an audiovisual media service and determines how it is organised, and an audiovisual media service is either a television broadcast or an on-demand audiovisual media service.
Article 41 makes the offences listed in the Fifth Schedule administrative offences punishable by the Broadcasting Authority, which may issue a written warning, direct a person not to broadcast for a specified period, or impose an administrative penalty. The Fifth Schedule lists article 16JB with a penalty of EUR 1,160 and a reduced penalty of EUR 930.
Article 15 of the Broadcasting Act, under which the Authority issues a directive to comply with the action plan, is listed in the Fifth Schedule with a penalty of EUR 4,660 and a reduced penalty of EUR 4,190. Paragraph 1 of the Fifth Schedule lets the Authority, where the gravity of the offence warrants it, award a penalty higher than the one listed, up to the amount established in the first proviso to article 41(4)(c).
A person served with a notice who elects to pay the penalty without contestation is liable to pay the penalty in the third column of the Fifth Schedule. For a second or subsequent violation the Fifth Schedule increases the penalties in its second and third columns by twenty percent for each subsequent violation. Article 41(4)(c) bars the Authority from requiring a penalty higher than EUR 11,646, or another amount the Prime Minister prescribes by order that does not exceed EUR 34,940.
The second proviso to article 41(4)(c) lets the Authority also impose a suspended penalty, payable within the period it establishes. Article 41(6) makes the Authority's decision final, while compliance with it is not a renunciation of the right to seek judicial review. Article 41(8) makes an administrative penalty imposed or agreed under the article due to the Authority as a civil debt constituting an executive title.
Article 41 of the Broadcasting Act, which states its ceilings in euro, was amended by Legal Notice 424 of 2007. Legal Notice 424 of 2007 is the Adaptation of Laws (Chapters 301 - 350) Order, 2007, and its provisions came into force on . Act LVI of 2020 added article 16JB to the Broadcasting Act. The President assented to Act LVI of 2020, the Broadcasting (Amendment) Act, 2020, on .
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