The government is to extend the competence of the commercial section of the First Hall of the Civil Court following a recommendation by retired judge Joseph Zammit McKeon.

The aim is for more improvement to be registered in terms of delivering judgments in a timely manner.

Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis told Times of Malta that the extension, which has been green-lighted by the cabinet, will see the competence of the commercial section of the law courts also covering maritime, trademarks, intellectual property and patents, which are all of a commercial nature.

This section currently deals with applications related to matters regulated by the Companies Act, the Competition Act and any regulations falling under the Consumer Affairs Act and the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority Act.

A retiring judge's suggestion

Judge Zammit McKeon dealt with cases in the commercial section.

He retired last March after 12 years on the bench and made the suggestion of extending the court’s competence during his final sitting. He proposed assigning two additional judges to it.

Zammit McKeon was replaced by a new judge, Ian Spiteri Bailey.

A spokeswoman for the justice ministry said that specialised courts gave peace of mind to foreign investors when they knew that litigation would be dealt with in a specialised and timely manner.

She said that, given the positive results yielded by the Civil Court (commercial section) in recent years, which had reduced the backlog and created an impetus for more specialised courts, extending the court’s competence was the most “reasonable and logical move”.

The government is expected to present a bill to this end in parliament.

The commercial section of the Civil Court was introduced in 2018. It was spurred by the need to have more specialised courts to focus on actions of a commercial nature and to deliver judgments in a timelier manner.

The spokeswoman said that, since its inception, the Civil Court (commercial section) had been “a success story” and “has been delivering the desired results”.

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