The Nationalist Party has urged the government to drop a Bill which, it warned, will breach the Constitution by allowing high administrative fines to be imposed without due process.

The Bill - an amendment to the Interpretation Act - is due to start being debated in parliament on Monday afternoon.

Shadow justice minister Karol Aquilina noted that the Bill has already been criticised by the Chamber of Advocates, constitutional experts, the dean of the Faculty of Law, former European Human Rights Court judge Giovanni Bonello and former attorney general and European Court judge Anthony Borg Barthet.   

"Parliament must not debate and approve Bills which are manifestly unconstitutional and which breach human rights that are guaranteed by the constitution," Aquilina said. 

In its criticism last week, the Chamber of Advocates said the bill would allow the imposition of administrative fines which sometimes run into hundreds of thousands of euros. 

“We must express our serious reservations about this Bill and its effect on the protection afforded by the Constitution from the imposition of criminal sanctions without due process," the chamber said. 

"The real effect of this Bill is far-reaching and can lead to the imposition of what are intrinsically criminal sanctions, without due process."

"Due process in the prosecution of criminal offences is protected by the constitution so that any person charged with a criminal offence shall be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law."