Cap. 555 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Arbiter" means the Arbiter for Financial Services appointed under article 14;

"Board" means the Board of Management and Administration established under article 3; "competent authorities" means the Malta Financial Services Authority, Central Bank of Malta, Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority and any other authority as the Minister may prescribe by regulations; "consumer association" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Consumer Affairs Act and shall include any other consumer association that has been officially recognised in any other country; "customer" means a natural person, including his successors in title, a micro enterprise, consumer associations or voluntary organisations: Provided that customer shall include any person in the case of complaints regarding suspicious fraudulent payment transactions involving financial services providers;

"durable medium" means any instrument which enables the storage of information addressed personally to a particular person in a way accessible for future reference and for a period of time adequate for the purposes of the information, and allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored;

"eligible customer" shall include:

(a) a customer who is a consumer of a financial services provider;

(b) a customer to whom the financial services provider has offered to provide a financial service;

* see article 1(2) of this Act as originally enacted, and Legal Notice 132 of 2016.

(c) a customer who has sought the provision of a financial service from a financial services provider;

(d) the lawful successor in title to the financial product which is the subject of the relevant complaint;

(e) consumer associations; and

(f) voluntary organisations: Provided that in the case of suspicious fraudulent payment transactions involving financial services providers, the victim of fraud exhibiting immediate, genuine and legitimate interest shall be deemed to be an eligible customer of any one of the financial services providers involved in the suspicious fraudulent payment transaction and this proviso shall be applicable with effect from 1st October 2025; "financial services provider" means a provider of financial services which is, or has been licensed or otherwise authorized in terms of the Malta Financial Services Authority Act or in terms of any other financial services law, and is related to investment services, banking, financial institutions, credit cards, pensions, insurance, and any other service which in the opinion of the Arbiter constitutes a financial service, which is, or has been resident in Malta or is, or has been resident in another EU Member State or in another EEA Member State and which offers, or has offered its financial services in and, or from Malta. A provider of financial services which has had its licence or other authorisation suspended or withdrawn, but which was licensed or otherwise authorised during the period in relation to which the occurred facts that gave rise to a complaint by an eligible customer is made to the Arbiter, shall be considered as falling within the definition of a financial services provider; "financial year" means a period of twelve months beginning on the first day of January and ending on the thirty-first day of December of the same year;

"micro enterprises" means an enterprise which employs fewer than ten persons and whose annual turnover and, or annual balance sheet total does not exceed two million euro (€2,000,000); "Minister" means the Minister responsible for Finance;

"Office" means the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services established under article 10;

"Office staff member" means a person appointed under article 19(4)(c);

"parties" in relation to a complaint means the complainant, the financial services provider against whom the complaint is made, and any other person who in the opinion of the Arbiter should be treated as a party to the complaint; "substitute Arbiter" means the Arbiter appointed under article 16. "voluntary organisation" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Voluntary Organisations Act and shall include any other voluntary organisation that has been officially recognised in any other country.