Consumer protection breaches are set to start being heard in court, after the government introduced legal changes to end a three-year legal stalemate.

The legislative amendments were required after the Constitutional Court had declared that the Office for Competition within the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority could not impose any fines, effectively rendering it toothless. 

On Monday, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici and Parliamentary Secretary Deo Debattista, responsible for consumer rights, said the MCCAA's competition office would now only be responsible for investigating consumer breach cases. Prosecutions will go before the Magistrates' court. 

Furthermore, the authority's director-general would need to get a warrant from a magistrate before being able to inspect property or vehicles and people searched will be given the right to a lawyer.

Cases previously heard before the competition tribunal will now be heard in civil court. 

The law's previous clauses, enacted in 2011, were brought into question when the Federation of Estate Agents against the Director-General (Competition) filed a case questioning their legality.

A court had ruled that the provisions of the law were unconstitutional, since imposing fines was a matter of criminal nature and could therefore only be handed down by a proper court.