Bill on administrative fines is unconstitutional and must be dropped - PN

The Nationalist Party has urged the government to drop a Bill which, it warned, will breach the Constitution by allowing the imposition of high administrative fines without due process.

The Bill is due to start being debated in parliament on Monday afternoon.

Shadow justice minister Karol Aquilina observed that the bill has already been criticised by the Chamber of Advocates, constitutional aspects, the dean of the Faculty of Law, former European Human Rights Court judge Giovanni Bonello and former attorney general and European Court judge Anthony Borg Barthet.   

Parliament must not debate and approve Bill which are manifestly unconstitutional and which breach human rights that are guaranteed by the constitution," Aquilina said. 

In its criticism last week, the Chamber of Advocates said the bill, once it becomes law, would allow the imposition of administrative fines which sometimes run into  hundreds of thousands of euros. 

“We must express our serious reservations about this Bill and its effect on the protection afforded by the Constitution from the imposition of criminal sanctions without due process," the chamber said. 

"The real effect of this Bill is far-reaching and can...