Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1306522
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS Cabinet turns down proposal to give snack bars 'temporary' restaurant license A proposal that would have seen snack bars being granted a temprorary restaurant license, and thus letting them serve alcohol, was shot down by Cabinet on Tuesday PAUL COCKS CABINET yesterday turned down a proposal to allow snack bars to apply for a temporary restaurant license which would have allowed them to serve al- cohol, while bars and kazini are shut down under COVID-19 measures. The proposal was put forward after new COVID-19 meas- ures introduced by the govern- ment last week - closing bars and kazini until 1 December - highlighted the archaic and confusing licensing system that regulates bars, kazini, snack bars, kiosks, restaurants and other type of dining establish- ments. Bar owners complained that they had been singled out in the latest round of government measures introduced to curb the spread of COVID-19 simply based on the type of license they possessed and not on the merits of mitigating infection as much as possible. And snack bars, even though they can still open, are – under the terms of their license – not alllowed to sell alcohol. But with possibly more people now frequenting snack bars fol- lowing the closures of bars and kazini, many were complaining about the lack of alcohol served with food at snack bars. MaltaToday is informed that the Malta Hotels and Restau- rants Association informed its members about the possibility of applying for a temporary li- cense, saying they could send an email to the Malta Tourism Authority. The applicants would have needed to sign a declaration form, bind them to a set of con- ditions, at which time the MTA would have issued the tempo- rary license within a month. Under the proposal, the MTA would have inspected the estab- lishments within three months of their application, issuing full restaurant licenses as long as all the criteria are met. But the Cabinet on Tuesday turned down the proposal. In the meantime, until the Legal Notice introducing the new measures was officially pub- lished, three licenses had been issued, as the establishments all met the conditions and criteria to be licensed as restaurants. Andrew Muscat Azzopardi, CEO of the MHRA, told Malt- aToday that the latest govern- ment measures had highlighted the need for a major reform in the industry, including with re- gards to licensing. "Licensing regulations have been in place for many, many years and do not even reflect to- day's reality," he said. "The MHRA had already stressed the need to make li- censes simpler and fairer. The current situation has only served to further accentuate the need for urgent reform." www.bca.org.mt GENERAL ENQUIRIES: 2095 5000 CUSTOMER CARE: 2095 5555 2095 5710 ENERGY PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES ( EPC ) : THIRD PARTY ISSUES: 2095 5700 NEW TELEPHONE NUMBERS AS OF 9 TH NOVEMBER