Consumer Affairs Act (Cap. 378)
Consumer Affairs Act (Cap. 378), article 72
72. (1) In this Part unless the context otherwise requires:
"consumer" means any natural person who, in relation to contrac ts
covered by this Part, is acting for purposes which are outside that
person's trade, business, craft or profession;
"commercial guarantee" means any undertaking by a seller or a
producer (the guarantor) to the consumer, in addition to the se ller’s
legal obligation relating to the guarantee of conformity, to re imburse
the price paid or to replace, repair or service goods in any wa y if they
do not meet the specifications or any other requirements not re lated to
conformity set out in the guarantee statement or in the relevan t
advertising available at the tim e of, or before the conclusion of the
contract;
"compatibility" means the ability of the goods to function with
hardware or software with which goods of the same type are norm ally
used, without the need to convert the goods, hardware or softwa re;
"digital content" means data which are produced and supplied in
digital form;
"digital service" means:
(a) a service that allows the c onsumer to create, process,
store or access data in digital form; or#
(b) a service that allows the sharing of or any other
interaction with data in digital form uploaded or
created by the cons umer or other user s of that service;
"durability" means the ability of the goods to maintain their
required functions and perfo rmance through normal use;
"durable medium" means any instrument which enables the
consumer or the seller to store i nformation addressed personall y to that
person in a way that is accessibl e for future reference, for a period of
time adequate for the purposes of the information, and which al lows
the unchanged reproduction of the information stored;
"free of charge" means free of t he necessary costs incurred in
order to bring the goods into conformity, particularly the cost of
postage, carriage, labour or materials;
"functionality" means the ability of the goods to perform their
56 CAP. 378.] CONSUMER AFF AIRS
functions having regard to their purpose;
"goods" means:
(a) any tangible movable items of property:
Provided that water, gas and electricity shall be
considered as goods within the meaning of this Part
when they are put up for sale in a limited volume or a
set quantity;
(b) tangible movable items that incorporate or are inter-
connected with digital content or a digital service in such
a way that the absence of th at digital content or digital
service would prevent the goods from performing their
functions, hereinafter referred to as "goods with digital
elements;
"guarantor" means the person who is responsible to the consumer
for the execution of a commercia l guarantee and includes any ot her
person acting for or on be half of the guarantor;
"interoperability" means the ability of the goods to function w ith
hardware or software different from those with which goods of t he
same type are normally used;
"producer" means a manufacturer of goods, an importer of goods
into the European Union or any person purporting to be a produc er by
placing its name, trade mark or o ther distinctive sign on the g oods;
"public auction" means a method of sale where goods or services
are offered by the seller to consumers, who attend or are given the
possibility to attend the auction in person, through a transpar ent,
competitive bidding procedure run by an auctioneer and where th e
successful bidder is bound to purchase the goods or services;
"repair" means in the event of lack of conformity, the process of
bringing goods into conformity with the sales contract;
"sales contract" means any contract under which the seller tran sfers
or undertakes to transfer ownership of goods to a consumer, and the
consumer pays or undertakes to pay the price thereof;
"seller" means any natural person or any legal person, irrespec tive
of whether privately or publicly owned, that is acting, includi ng
through any other person acting in that natural or legal person 's name
or on that person's behalf, for purposes relating to that perso n's trade,
business, craft or profession, in relation to contracts covered by this
Part.
(2) The provisions of this Part shall be applicable to sales
contracts between a consumer and a seller.
(3) Contracts between a consumer and a seller for the supply of
goods to be manufactured or produced shall also be deemed sales
CONSUMER AFF AIRS [CAP. 378. 57
contracts for the pur poses of this Part.
(4) This Part shall not apply to contracts for the supply of
digital content or digital services. It shall, however, apply t o digital
content or digital services which are incorporated in or inter- connected
with goods, as defined in paragraph (b) of the definition "good s" in
sub-article (1) and are provided with the goods under the sales
contracts, irrespective of whether such digital content or digital service
is supplied by the seller or by a third party. In the event of doubt as to
whether the supply of incorporated or inter-connected digital c ontent
or an incorporated or inter-connected digit al service forms par t of the
sales contract, the digital content or digital service shall be presumed
to be covered by th e sales contract.
(5) This Part shall not apply to:
(a) any tangible medium which serves exclusively as a
carrier for dig ital content;
(b) any goods sold by way of execution or otherwise by
authority of law; or
(c) contracts for the sale of second-hand goods sold at
public auction:
Cap. 342.
Provided that in the case referred to in paragraph (c), clear
and comprehensive information that the rights deriving from thi s Part
do not apply shall be made easily available to consumers by
auctioneers as defined in the Auctioneers Act.
Subjective
requirements for
conformity.
Added by:
XXVI. 2000.15.
Substituted by:
I.2022.3.
Text read from the consolidated PDF published by Legislation Malta. Tables, figures and marginal notes may be incomplete or out of place: the official PDF is authoritative. General information, not legal, tax or accounting advice.