Update government websites or face the music, Ombudsman warns

Public officers responsible for the updating of government websites have been warned to keep the websites up-to-date or "face the music".

An e-mail sent just before Christmas to the chief information officers in all the government ministries exhorts them to make sure that the information on the websites under their responsibility is updated and reflects current laws and regulations.

The e-mail, originating from the Malta Information Technology Agency refers to the decision of the Ombudsman on three cases involving the return of migrants to Malta and the transfer of their cars to Malta between 2005 and 2006.

The three returned migrants took up residence in Malta on the understanding that they would be allowed to import their motor vehicle on a duty-free basis, but subject to the payment of a registration tax at preferential rates ranging from 10 per cent to 16.5 per cent according to the market value and the engine capacity of the car.

However, a huge surprise lay in store for them when they went to register their cars and found that the Malta Transport Authority, which is responsible for the collection of vehicle registration tax, was adamant that this tax actually stood at 65 per cent.

In two cases, which took place in mid-2005, the returned migrants who transferred their residence from the UK, decided to bring their cars with them in the light of information given in leaflets that were mailed to them by the Malta High Commission in London. One of these leaflets made reference to the payment of a reduced vehicle registration tax by migrants returning to Malta.

In the third case, a returned migrant from a non-EU member state told the Ombudsman that his understanding of a concessionary rate of tax for car registration was based on information that appeared on the ADT website in mid-January 2006 just prior to his departure to Malta.

Although in all three cases this information came from official sources, it turned out to be outdated and wrong. In the first two cases complainants learnt on arrival that conditions for the importation of vehicles from EU member states had changed upon Malta's accession to the EU in May 2004 and that the concession was no longer valid. In the other case ADT officials told the returned migrant a week after his arrival that conditions for the registration of imported cars had changed with effect from January 1, 2006 and here too the concession was no longer applicable.

The complainants' frustration increased when they realised that as they learnt about these changes and well even after they had returned to Malta, the ADT website continued to provide wrong information and to give the impression that the old set of conditions were still in force.

The e-mail to the chief information officers in the various ministries refers to the investigations and the conclusions of the Ombudsman, who pointed out that "government representative offices abroad and the websites of government bodies must at all times be considered as authoritative sources of information, and indeed the last word, especially for persons outside Malta seeking information about regulations and procedures that are applicable in Malta".

The Ombudsman remarked that the three complainants who resided abroad and planned to take up residence in Malta should not therefore be blamed for having approached the Malta High Commission and for having consulted the ADT's website regarding car registration procedures and for having acted upon information given by these two sources which they considered to be reliable and authoritative.

The Ombudsman reportedly noted that no plausible explanation was given why the ADT failed to keep its website regularly updated while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs failed to explain why internal arrangements at the High Commission in London lacked accountability and allowed misleading information to be given to citizens.

"Although the argument that the ADT management had no choice but to apply the law was valid, the Ombudsman held that it was equally valid to argue that once official government sources had misled citizens by providing outdated information, it was up to these authorities to provide compensation to citizens for their failure.

"There was no doubt that complainants had been given the wrong impression that it would be to their advantage to bring their car to Malta and that a large amount of the registration tax which they incurred arose as a result of negligence shown by official sources and the misleading information which they provided.

"The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and recommended that the public bodies involved undertake to refund the excess registration fee that had been incurred by complainants because of failure to observe their responsibility to provide citizens with correct and updated information."

The Ombudsman recommended that the official websites of government departments and public sector bodies should be regularly updated and should provide at all times correct and reliable information. Resort to e-government and use of information technology to improve the efficiency with which government services and information are made available to citizens means that at the same time the providers of electronic administrative tools must accept full responsibility for the efficient and reliable working of these systems and their consequences on the daily lives of citizens.

The Ombudsman warned that the public administration would invariably be faced with claims for damages whenever these systems fail and the adverse consequences can be attributed to the administration's negligence or omission of duty.

In the light of the Ombudsman's recommendation, the Principal Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, who is the head of the Maltese public service, issued a circular to the top echelons of the service to point out that government ministries and departments as well as public sector entities should review the information which appears on their websites and regularly update their contents while ensuring that the information that is provided is error free, correct and up-to-date.