Consumer Affairs Act (Cap. 378), article 23

23. (1) Subject to the provisions of any rules made in accordance with article 27 and to the provisions of sub-article (2), an arbiter shall regulate the pr oceedings before a tribunal as he thinks best suited to the ends o f justice in accordance with th e rules of natural justice. (2) Subject to any rules referred t o in sub-article (1) hereof, an arbiter - (a) shall ensure that a case is decided as far as is reasonably possible on the same day of the hearing; (b) shall inform himself in any manner he thinks fit and shall not be bound by the rules of best evidence or the rules relative to hearsay evidence if he is satisfied that the evidence before him is sufficiently reliable for him to reach a conclusion on the case before him; (c) shall refrain as far as possible from appointing technical referees to give e xpert evidence, and shall where experts are appointed make out a list of points upon which the expert is to give evidence; (d) shall not be bound to give extensive reasons for his decisions but it shall be sufficient for him to list out the main points upon which his decision is based; (e) shall have the same power as a magistrate sitting in a Court of Magistrates (Malta) in its civil jurisdiction or in the Court of Magistrates (Gozo) in its inferior civil jurisdiction and in particular shall have power to summon witnesses and to administer an oath to witnesses; and (f) shall ensure evidence before the Tribunal shall in all cases be tendered on oath. (3) No proceedings before a trib unal shall be invalid because of any non-observance of any formalities if there has been substan tial compliance with the rules. (4) ( a) A claim shall, before being presented before a tribunal, be referred by the party making the claim to the Director General or a registered consumer association who shall try to bring the parties into an agreement on the issues in dispute. (b) If no agreement is reached on all the issues in dispute within fifteen working days from when the claim was referred to the Director General or the registered consumer association, as the case may be, by the party, that party may then present its claim before the 32 CAP. 378.] CONSUMER AFF AIRS tribunal. (5) Where the Director General is in receipt of a claim referred to him by the Malta Communications Authority where such a claim was submitted to that Authority by an aggrieved end-user in relation to a communications servi ce however so described falli ng within the remit of the Authority, then the Director General sh all act on the basis of the claim forwarded to him by the Authority without the need of requiring the end-user concerned to submit the claim again to the Director General: Cap. 418. Provided that for the purposes of this sub-article, "communications service" means a ny communications service as is regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Malta Communications Authority Act . Cap. 108. (6) Witnesses shall be paid fees in accordance with the Witnesses (Fees) Ordinance . Cap. 189. (7) The provisions of the Judicial Proceedings (Use of English Language) Act shall apply to a tribunal. Applicability of this Part.