Electronic tagging law to come into force on Monday
LESA to oversee electronic tag monitoring through a 24/7 control room
A new law allowing criminal offenders to be fitted with an electronic tracking device will come into force on Monday, January 19.
The law, known as the Electronic Monitoring Act, will allow for electronic monitoring as an alternative to imprisonment in certain cases when offenders are sentenced to less than a year in prison. It will also be used to enforce conditions of release or supervision.
Tagging will also be introduced for those on parole and prison leave and is intended to help reduce the risk of reoffending and “strengthening the sense of security” in communities, the home affairs ministry had said.
Although the law was passed by parliament last August, it could not come into force without a legal notice establishing its starting date. A legal notice to that effect was published this week by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri.
An order requiring a person to be fitted with an electronic monitoring tag may be issued by a court, the Parole Board, or the Correctional Services Agency.
LESA to be responsible for tags
The law places responsibility for fitting electronic tags and carrying out monitoring with the Agency for the Local Enforcement System (LESA). The movements of those fitted with a tag will be monitored 24/7 from a central control room.
Monitoring orders can be reviewed or withdrawn if conditions are breached.
Although it was first tabled in parliament in December 2025, calls for electronic tagging to be introduced date back more than a decade.
Lawyer and former MP Franco Debono had proposed it in a parliamentary speech back in 2012 and Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera has also called, in various court judgements, for it to be introduced.