Cap. 555 чл. 21Competence of Arbiter.

(1) (a) Nothing in this Act shall imply that a complaint relating to the conduct of a financial service provider is to be exclusively regulated by the provisions of this

Act:

Provided that findings and conclusions reached by an Arbiter following a complaint filed in terms of this Act shall be binding on the parties, save for the right of appeal regulated by article 27.

(b) An Arbiter shall have the competence to hear complaints in terms of his functions under article 19(1) in relation to the conduct of a financial service provider which occurred on or after the first of May 2004: Provided that a complaint about conduct which occurred before the entry into force of this Act shall be made by not later than two years from the date when this paragraph comes into force.

(c) An Arbiter shall also have the competence to hear complaints in terms of his functions under article 19(1) in relation to the conduct of a financial service provider occurring after the coming into force of this Act, if a complaint is registered in writing with the financial services provider not later than two years from the day on which the complainant first had knowledge of the matters complained of.

(d) Conduct that is continuing in nature shall be presumed to have occurred at the time when it stopped, and conduct that consists of a series of acts or omissions shall be presumed to have occurred when the last of those acts or omissions occurred.

(2) An Arbiter shall decline to exercise his powers under this Act where:

(a) the conduct complained of is or has been the subject of a law suit before a court or tribunal or is or has been the subject of a complaint lodged with an ADR entity in any other jurisdiction, initiated by the same complainant on the same subject matter: Provided that nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed as impeding the Arbiter’s competence to consider complaints which are being dealt with or which have already been dealt with by the Malta Financial Services Authority, and the recommendations, rulings, directives or decisions of the said Authority shall not be considered as having given rise to a res judicata with respect to the complainant’s claim; or

(b) it results that the customer failed to communicate the substance of the complaint to the financial service provider concerned and has not given that financial service provider a reasonable opportunity to deal with the complaint prior to filing a complaint with the Arbiter; or

(c) the complaint is, in the opinion of the Arbiter, frivolous or vexatious; or

(d) the complaint is submitted by an eligible applicant and relates to an eligible application as defined in the Credit

Review Office Act.

(3) (a) An Arbiter may not award monetary compensation in excess of two hundred and fifty thousand euro (€250,000), together with any additional sum for interest due and other costs, to each claimant for claims arising from the same conduct.

(b) An Arbiter may, if he considers that fair compensation requires payment for a larger compensation than that stipulated in paragraph (a), recommend that the financial service provider pay the complainant the balance, but such recommendation shall not be binding on the service provider.

(c) For the purpose of determining the euro equivalent of claims for damages against a service provider adjudged by the Arbiter to have been wholly or in part substantiated, any foreign currency shall be converted to euro at the middle rate of exchange published by the Central Bank of Malta on the date of when the complaint would have been filed with the Office of the Arbiter.