Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/558086
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 19 AUGUST 2015 7 MAT THEW VELLA MALTA has requested the withdrawal of its request for an opinion filed with the Court of Justice of the EU on 8 July, 2014, with regard to the compatibility of the Council of Europe Con- vention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions with the EU Treaties. The reason that Malta had submitted the request was to obtain an opinion on whether the definition of "illegal sports betting" was consistent with the objectives of the Treaty. Malta claims that the definition of 'il- legal sports betting' goes beyond the scope of the Con- vention and does not contribute to the fight against match fix- ing. "Malta's position on the Con- vention has always been made very clear and remains un- changed. Malta has maintained that it fully supports the main objective of the Convention to prevent the manipulation of sports competitions. In fact, Malta is currently undergoing an exercise to ensure the imple- mentation of stricter rules and systems to suppress fraud and manipulation in sports," par- liamentary secretary for sports Chris Agius said. "However, Malta has consist- ently reiterated its concerns on the definition of 'illegal sports betting' which goes beyond the scope of the Conven- tion and does not contribute to the fight against match fixing. Malta tabled various propos- als for amendment throughout the discussions on the Conven- tion and following the rejec- tion of all such proposals, was compelled to vote against its adoption. Consequently, we did not sign the Convention when it was opened for signature in September 2014," Agius said. Despite the request for an opinion, a legislative proposal for the EU to proceed was pro- posed and is now being dis- cussed in Council. "Given the developing circum- stances, and after examining the legislative proposal, Malta considers that other solutions may be available to it and has decided that, at this stage, it is more appropriate to try to achieve an acceptable state of affairs for Malta through deep- er dialogue at the European lev- el, without however renouncing to any of Malta's rights and pre- rogatives," Agius said. News NOTICE by the Electoral Commission The Electoral Commission notifies that: Sealed applications will be received by hand in the tender box at the Electoral Office, Evans Building, Triq il-Merkanti, Valletta, VLT 2000 up to 10:00 am of Tuesday ,15th September, 2015, for: Advert 2/15: Transport services to the Electoral Commission. Documents can be either downloaded from the Website (www.electoral.gov.mt) or collected from the Electoral Office, Evans Building, Triq il-Merkanti, Valletta, VLT 2000 (telephone number 25583100) from 08:00 am to 13:30 pm. Malta withdraws court request as EU steams ahead on sports betting law Malta withdraws request for ECJ's opinion on Council of Europe sports manipulation convention, as European Council steams ahead with legislative proposal Parliamentary secretary Chris Agius said Malta is reviewing its online betting laws Malta with 102 human rights violations per million people TIM DIACONO MALTA has a rate of 102 human rights violations per million peo- ple, according to judgments hand- ed down at the European Court of Human Rights, which was estab- lished in 1959. Making comparisons, Slovenia has 148 violations per million people, Bulgaria 68 per million and Greece 67 violations per mil- lion people, but these countries did not all ratify the necessary in- struments of the European Con- vention on Human Rights in the same years. Malta has faced 61 judgments at the ECHR since the European Convention on Human Rights was enshrined in Maltese law in 1987, with the large majority of these cases (43) ruling at least one rights violation against Malta. Most of the 61 judgments were related to rights to liberty and se- curity (16), rights to protection of property (13), rights to a fair trial (9), and rights to a fair length in court proceedings (9). The Strasbourg court dealt with 40 applications relating to Malta in 2014, of which 32 were declared inadmissible or struck out. It de- livered four judgments (concern- ing the remaining eight applica- tions), three of which found at least one violation of the Europe- an Convention on Human Rights. One of these three recent rul- ings fined the Maltese govern- ment €76,000 for having failed to protect ship repair workers from exposure to asbestos at the workplace between the 1950s and the early 2000s, leading them to develop asbestos-related health conditions. Another fined the government €445,000 in damages for having failed to compensate a landowner for the expropriation of a portion of his Msida land in 1974. The third ruling fined the government €21,500 for having breached a landlord's right to enjoy his apart- ment, by forcing him to rent it out at a miserly rate to the same ten- ants through the application of a 1979 law that converted tempo- rary leases into permanent rental contracts. The single non-violation ruling last year concerns Strasbourg's decision that an antiques col- lector's right to be presumed in- nocent was not breached when a court had ordered him to pay damages to the original owners of stolen goods he had received. Since it was set up, the court in Strasbourg has decided on the examination of around 627,500 applications but in recent years the ECHR has concentrated on examining complex cases and has decided to join certain appli- cations which raise similar legal questions so that it can consider them jointly. More than 42% of the violations found by the ECHR concern Ar- ticle 6 of the Convention, whether on ac- count of the fairness or the length of proceedings. The second violation most fre- quently found by the Court has concerned the peaceful enjoyment of posses- sions while 14% of the violations found by the court have con- cerned the right to life or the pro- hibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg