Summary: Information That Is Available For a Fee Is Excluded From the Freedom of Infomation Act
| Request sent to | Financial Services Authority (Click here) |
| Outcome of request | Information refused |
| Time taken to respond | 1 day for initial response (Deadline is 20 working days) |
| Reason for refusal | FOI exceptions applied to registers. |
On 28 August 2013, Access Info sent a request to the Maltese Financial Services Authority asking for access to a copy of the full database of companies registered in the country. Malta’s access to information act establishes a deadline of 20 working days for government bodies to respond to requests for access to information.
The very next day, the Maltese Financial Services Authority responded saying that free access to company records cannot be granted under the Freedom of Information Act, as Articles 5 (d) and (e) of the Act provide for the exclusion of documents which are accessible to the public under any other law, or that are available for purchase by the public in accordance with arrangements made by a public authority.
Accessing Malta´s Company Register
| Information available (for free) | Company Name, Company ID, Company Address, Company Locality, Status |
| Provision for public access | The Registry of Companies is a public registry and all registered information and documentation is available to the public. Some basic company details are available for free and other information is accessible upon paying the subscription fee.The Registry of Companies (ROC) provides online access to the Register. This can be achieved once registration as an on-line user with the ROC is secured. Registration as an on-line user is free of charge while access to company documents and extracts of data in electronic format, such as a list of all company names, registration numbers and registered office addresses, can also be downloaded subject to a fee payment. |
| Cost per record | Data not available. |
| Cost for whole database | Data not available. |
Additional Information:
Malta´s Right to Information (RTI) Rating (Click here)
Malta´s Freedom of Information Act (Click here)
Malta’s company register (Click here)