There were several important legislative changes which were published over the course of November 2025. Below is an overview of the key updates across different areas.
Four pivotal Acts were published in November. The Various Laws relating to Differentiation between Genders (Amendment) Act, 2025 made substantive progress in aligning Maltese laws with gender-neutral standards. The National Interest (Enabling Powers) Act, 2025 established the implementation of restrictive measures, including but not limited to domestic restrictive measures, United Nations Security Council Resolutions and European Union restrictive measures. Amendments to employment law were introduced through the Employment and Industrial Relations (Amendment No. 3) Act, 2025, which will, as of 1 January 2026, allow the definition of “delivery” to cover births (including stillbirths) from the 22nd week of pregnancy. The Criminal Code (Amendment No. 5) Act, 2025 also entered into force, strengthening provisions on the misuse of electronic communication; amending the provisions regulating the procès-verbal; substituting the concept of trafficking in persons with that of smuggling of persons and imposing penalties for such offences, as well as granting powers to Police to execute alerts pursuant to the Schengen Information System.
Three bills are currently in progress. The Budget Measures Implementation Bill (Bill 155 of 2025) provides for measures necessary to implement Malta’s 2026 Budget. The Credit Review Office Bill (Bill 156 of 2025) proposes the establishment of the Credit Review Office with the power to review decisions issued by lending institutions refusing applications made by eligible applicants for credit facilities, or withdrawing or reducing existing credit facilities, or refusing applications requesting the restructuring of existing credit facilities. The Constitution of Malta (Amendment) Bill (Bill 157 of 2025) seeks to establish the 27th December as Jum l-Innu Malti and to recognize Valletta as the capital city of Malta in the Constitution.
In addition to the legal notices mentioned in our previous legal update for October 2025, two new consumer credit instruments were published on the 18th November 2025. The Banking Act (Consumer Credit) Regulations, 2025 and the Financial Institutions Act (Consumer Credit) Regulations, 2025 transpose Directive 2008/48/EC and apply the relevant consumer credit obligations to creditors falling under the respective Acts. These regulations are intended to operate together with existing Consumer Credit Regulations, ensuring full alignment with the EU’s consumer credit framework.
At a European level, on the 6th November 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) published its report on total costs of investing in UCITS and AIFs, providing an innovative analysis on distribution costs, identifying 48% of total costs for UCITS investor charges and that inducements may represent 45% of ongoing costs where non-independent advice is provided.
Further to this, on the 13th November 2025, the European Commission launched proceedings to assess whether Google applies fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions of access to publishers’ websites on Google Search, which is an obligation under the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”). In case of an infringement, the Commission can impose fines up to 10% of a company’s total worldwide turnover. Such fines can go up to 20% in case of repeated infringement. On the same day, a formal antitrust investigation was opened to assess whether the energy drinks company Red Bull has illegally restricted competition in the energy drinks sector in breach of EU competition rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant market position.
The Commission also welcomed the political agreement reached by EU Member States within the Council to remove the 150 EUR customs duty relief threshold, transforming the way e-commerce goods are handled. The Commission also proposed enhancements to administrative cooperation in VAT matters, granting the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the European Anti-Fraud Office real-time access to VAT data. The proposal provides a legal basis for the exchange of information and access to VAT data, enhancing the EU’s ability to combat fraud against the financial interests of the Union. Additionally, the European Commission proposed a set of amendments to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, including the removal of entity-level disclosure obligations, and the introduction of a three-tier categorisation system (Sustainable, Transition, ESG Basics).
On the 17th November 2025, the European Council adopted new rules to improve cooperation between national data protection bodies when they enforce the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in order to speed up the process of handling cross-border data protection complaints. The Council also adopted the new EU’s mechanism to suspend visa-free travel for citizens of third countries who do not require a visa when travelling to the Schengen area.
Locally, the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (“FIAU”) announced that it will be introducing new security features to the Compliance and Supervision Platform for Assessing Risk platform. To further protect data and enhance account security, Two-Factor Authentication and Recovery Keys will soon be available.
In the financial regulation sphere, on the 3rd November 2025, the Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”) issued a Circular with reference to the Senior Employees of Family Offices, Back Offices and Treasury Management Operations Tax Rules, 2025 (the “Rules”), published in the Government Gazette by way of Legal Notice 250 of 2025, which Circular provides a high-level synopsis of the Rules. Moreover, the MFSA issued a Circular pertaining to Article 28(3) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 on Digital Operational Resilience for the Financial Sector (“the DORA Regulation”), which stipulates that financial entities shall maintain a Register of Information (“RoI”) with information on all of their arrangements with ICT Third-Party Service Providers, and upon request, make the full RoI available or, as requested, specific sections, along with any information deemed necessary to the Competent Authority. In addition, on the 13th November 2025, the MFSA issued its Feedback Statement on the Consultation Document on the Minimum Free Float Requirement for Admission to Trading on a Regulated Market. The Consultation Document, issued in July 2025, proposed that issuers should have the option to apply a lower free float percentage threshold than the current 25%, provided that certain conditions are fulfilled. This proposal was submitted in light of the adoption of the EU Listing Act, which introduced Article 51a into the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MIFID II). Article 51a of the MIFID II reduced the required free float percentage from 25% to 10%.
Furthermore, on the 28th November 2025, the Malta Business Registry (“MBR”), in collaboration with the Malta Tax and Customs Administration (the “MTCA”), announced that, as from 1 December 2025, a single point of online submission will be introduced for the following forms through the BAROS platform: Form T – Transfer of Shares, Form H – Return of Allotments, and the MSR Form F – Transfer of Shares. This facility will apply exclusively to exempt share transfers in respect of which there is a valid determination issued in terms of Article 47 of the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act that require filing under Schedule E, as well as transactions that are exempt from filing a capital gains schedule.
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