Duty on Documents and Transfers Act (Cap. 364), article 19

19. (1) Where the Commissioner, or any officer authorised by him in writing, suspects that this Act has not been complied wi th in respect of a document, he shall have the power to require any person holding such document to produce it for the purposes of verifying that this Act has been complied with in respect of such document, and may, unless such document is a notarial public de ed, seize the document if there are reasonable grounds for it to ap pear to him that the provisions of this Act have not been complied w ith in respect of that document. (2) Where the Commissioner, or any officer authorised by him in writing, suspects that assets have been undervalued for the purposes of the application of this Act, he or any architect or surveyor authorised by him shal l have full and free access to a ll buildings or places to the extent that such access is likely to assist 8 CAP. 364.] DUTY ON DOCUMENTS AND TRANSFERS him in determining the value of the said assets, but shall not have any power to seize an y item or remove it from the premises. (3) If access to any of the premis es referred to in the previous sub-article requires access to pre mises occupied in whole or in part for the purposes of habitation, such access shall not take plac e between seven o’clock in the evening and nine o’clock in the morning. (4) The examination of notarial acts shall be carried out by the review officers appointed under the Notarial Profession and Notarial Archives Act and the C ourt of Revision of Notarial Act s shall make a report to the Commissioner of any offence against this Act which may come to its notice during such examination: Cap. 55. Provided that such court may delegate the Chief Notary to Government to examine in its name any wills, and it may delegat e a review officer appointed in terms of article 94A of the Notarial Profession and Not arial Archives Act to examine in its name any other notarial act to the exclusion of those published in terms of Part IIIA of the said Act: Provided further that the provisions of this sub-article shall not preclude any officer as is r eferred to in sub-article (1) f rom inspecting inter vivos acts (to the exclusion of those published in terms of Part IIIA of the said A ct) at the premises or elsewher e of a notary for the purpose of ascerta ining compliance with this Act . (5) In the exercise of the powers under this article, any architect or surveyor referred to in sub-article (2) may not in spect any document or other record whatsoever, and the Commissioner, or any person authorised by him as aforesaid, may not inspect any document, or other record which is protected by the duty of professional secrecy, or listen to any conversation or recordin g device which is protected by the same duty, unless voluntarily released by the owner of the said document or record and only when such record shall tend to establish the correct value of t he said asset. The Commissioner or his duly authorised officer may require the holder of a document protected by professional secr ecy to communicate to him an abstract of the document so as to remo ve references to any information protected by professional secrecy . If such abstract does not enable the Commissioner or his duly authorised officer to decide whether all the provisions of this Act have been complied with in respect of such document, the matter shall be referred to the competent Court of V oluntary Jurisdict ion which shall have the power to order the production of such document before it by any person, and which shall make a report to the Commissioner of any failure to comply with this Act which comes to its notice dur ing such, examination. (6) Except as may be necessary f or the purpose of this Act or where the Commissioner otherwise directs, every person having a n official duty or being employed in the administration of this A ct, shall be bound by the duty of professional secrecy in respect o f anything which may come to his knowledge in the course of the exercise of his powers under this Act and shall not disclose th e result thereof except to any authority competent in relation to the DUTY ON DOCUMENTS AND TRANSFERS [CAP. 364. 9 collection of duty under this Act or for the purpose, or in the course of an investigation or a prosecution for any offence committed against the provisions of this Act, or in the course of an investigation or prosecution for any relevant offence, or durin g any judicial or quasi-judicial proceed ings when ordered by a court or tribunal to disclose information. Any such officer who otherwis e discloses such result shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine ( multa ) of not less than two hundred and thirty euro (€230) and not more than two thousand and three hundred euro (€2,300), or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six (6) months, or to both such fine ( multa ) and imprisonment. For the purposes of this sub-artic le, "relevant offence" means a criminal offence, not being one of an involuntary nature, consi sting of any act or omission which if co mmitted in Malta, or in correspo nding circumstances, would constitute a n offence liable to the punish ment of imprisonment or of detention for a term of one (1) year or more . Cap. 9.(7) Saving any provision of the Criminal Code , where the fact constitutes a crime liable to a higher punishment, any person w ho prevents or obstructs the said officer, architect or surveyor i n the execution of his duties under sub-article (2), or refuses to co mply with any request made by such officer in accordance with the provisions of this article, sha ll, on conviction, be liable to a fine (multa ) not exceeding one hundred and fifteen euro (115) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both suc h fine and imprisonment. Punishment for forging, etc., dies, etc.