The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has introduced its FinTech Regulatory Sandbox, which provides a controlled regulatory environment where FinTech operators may test their innovations within the financial services sector under prescribed conditions.
The FinTech Regulatory Sandbox was launched during a press conference held on the 22nd of July, 2020....
Muscat Mizzi Advocates is proud to have assisted the National Book Council (Malta) in drafting a proposed bill to amend the Copyright Act.The draft intends to update the Copyright Act in order to bring it in line with modern realities of the cultural industry; by transposing the EU’s Directive on...
The economic fallout of the recent pandemic has brought about a surge in debt collection claims. The sudden pressure on income for certain businesses necessitates the frugal management of cash flow, to the extent that directors may find themselves in the unenviable position of having to prioritise payments to certain...
A new legal notice regulating the licensing of property brokers and real estate agents in Malta was enacted on the 3rd of July, 2020. The following article gives an overview of the most important provisions under this Act.
PRECISELY DEFINES THE DIFFERENT ROLES INVOLVED
The new Act defines the activity...
Crowdfunding may easily represent the most accessible way for SMEs to raise financing. Blockchain is a highly effective and arguably revolutionary technology. Together, crowdfunding and blockchain, are an effective medium between the person launching an idea and those people who intend to participate in that idea.
A crowdfunding structure is...
The plaintiff had filed an application claiming that her former employer, Union Print Company Limited, terminated her contract of employment immediately after informing them that she was pregnant. The company dismissed her allegations and claimed that her termination was strictly connected with her work performance.
The company essentially argued that...
Defining STOs
In the Consultation Document, the Authority proposed a categorization of different types of STOs, being:
TRADITIONAL STOs: Traditional transferable securities such as shares; bonds (including callable bonds); convertible debt securities; derivatives, asset-backed securities; the storage and/or transaction execution of which is intrinsically dependent on, or utilizes Distributed Ledger...
The EU Trademark Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/1001) (the “EUTMR”) allows proprietors of “non-registered trademarks or of another sign used in the course of trade” to oppose an EU trademark (“EUTM”) application, where “that sign confers on its proprietor the right to prohibit the use of a subsequent trademark”. [1] An...
Employee share options are often used to align the interests of employees with those of the company by tying part of the remuneration package with performance, as reflected in the share price.
In the world of finance, an option is referred to as a derivative contract, the value of which...
The legislation regulating the institute of the lease has seen a number of developments over the years. For instance, prior to the amendments introduced in 2010, there was no obligation imposed on the parties to a lease to draw up a written lease agreement. At the time, it was common...
Beyond the hype, the controversy, talk of meme bans and impending doom for the internet, what will the new law really change? This article is a continuation of an earlier article which delved into the notorious article 13, now article 17.
Part 2 – Beyond Article 13 (now Article 17)...
Muscat Mizzi Advocates will be attending the Malta AI & Blockchain Summit between the 23rd and 24th May.
Our colleague, Dr Deborah Chappell, will be speaking on Thursday 23rd May between 10:50am - 11:10am on the subject of Malta's Role in The Digital World Economy.
If you wish to meet...
Muscat Mizzi Advocates is pleased to announce that its virtual financial assets arm, MMC Consultancy Limited, is in receipt of an ‘in principle’ approval from the Malta Financial Services Authority to be registered as a Virtual Financial Assets Agent. We are thrilled to be amongst the first applicants to receive...
The EU’s current legislative framework governing copyright and related rights dates all the way back to 2001 - to a pre-historic digital landscape incredibly different to the present day. This was a time which pre-dated the emergence of the content consumption modes currently in vogue. Back in 2001 Spotify, Youtube,...
On 9 January 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) published its advice to regulators across the EU Member States in relation to initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) and crypto-assets in general.
It is our view that the advice can be construed as an endorsement of Malta’s legal framework on...
The dialogue on the subject of blockchain has evolved since bitcoin achieved mainstream notoriety a few years ago.
At the time, markets were told that bitcoin was not blockchain and that the two terms were not to be confused with one another.
The prevailing impression was that there was something...
As robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) become more prevalent in the world economy and modern society, timely legislative efforts could help smoothen the proliferation of this technology and prevent undesired consequences.
From relatively humble beginnings limited to mere remote-controlled automation, AI has developed immensely over the past decades and the...
Muscat Mizzi Advocates will be attending the Blockchain Live! Conference on the 26th September 2018 at the Olympia, London. The conference represents an important gathering for participants of the blockchain industry and provides a good insight on the latest trends in the blockchain space.
We will be meeting a number...
Ten years from its genesis, blockchain is being touted as the greatest technological innovation since the emergence of the worldwide web back in 1991. 2017 was truly the year that blockchain made it to the mainstream, thanks to the meteoric price-hike of cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are built...
Malta has established itself as the ‘first mover’ in the regulation of businesses utilizing distributed ledger technology (DLT), upon which blockchain is based.
Recognizing the potential behind blockchain, Maltese lawmakers sought to develop a regulatory environment that addresses the risks arising from sinister uses of the technology while, at the...
