Shops, including confectionaries, cannot serve alcohol after 9 p.m., a Legal Notice published yesterday stipulates.
Originally, the owners of confectionaries were going to have to choose between selling confectionery and remaining open all day, or selling only wines and spirits and having to close at 9 p.m.
To date, shops licensed as confectionaries could not sell alcohol at any hour but the regulation was abused and they took advantage of their unrestricted opening hours.
The regulations are partly intended to curb the practice of drinking alcohol in the streets, especially in tourist areas, at night. Now, alcoholic beverages may be sold and served after 9 p.m. only from duly licensed clubs, wedding halls and outlets licensed by the Malta Tourism Authority as catering establishments. No other businesses may sell alcohol after 9 p.m. and street vendors cannot do so at any time.
Fines and penalties for abusing the law are also being increased considerably – to the point of licence revocation if it is breached a second time – according to the Legal Notice.
The penalty for a first-time offence is the six-month suspension of a trading licence and a €5,000 fine. But if the law is broken a second time, it would be revoked and the fine goes up to €10,000.
The amendments to the regulations on commercial licences show that, while wanting to encourage commercial activity, the government will not tolerate abuse, the parliamentary secretariat for small businesses said.
Among the main points of the Legal Notice is that retailers cannot make use of more than one licence to manage their commercial activity. The holders of several licences would have to indicate to the Department of Commerce under which one they are operating so it will be considered the only valid one.
Each shop can only have one predominant commercial activity and the Licences Section has the power to inspect every confectionary.
As things stand, the shops will be selling the same products, which also include wines and spirits. But none of these beverages can be sold after 9 p.m., while other items can continue to be sold as was the case until now, the General Workers’ Union commented.
It expressed its satisfaction at the Legal Notice, saying the government had met many of its requests.
“Our work over the last few weeks has yielded the desired fruit as the government kept many of the conditions of the shops that sold confectionery, wines and spirits,” it said.
The union felt the new penalties and fines were too big, compared to other shortcomings in relation to related businesses.
In the coming days, it would be meeting its members to explain the Legal Notice in more detail.