S.L. 403.25 Art. 2Interpretation. Cap. 403.   S.L. 403.15.  S.L. 403.14. Cap. 386.  Cap. 104.

(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

''Act'' means the Insurance Business Act;

"administrator" means:

(a) in Malta, any person or body appointed by the relevant authorities for the purpose of administering reorganisation measures; or

(b) in another Member State or EEA State, any person or body appointed by the foreign administrative or judicial authorities or by the governing bodies of an insurance undertaking authorised in such Member State or EEA State for the purposes of administering reorganisation measures:

Provided that "relevant authorities" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Insurance

Business (Reorganisation and Winding up of Insurance Undertakings) Regulations;

"authorised reinsurance undertaking" shall have the same COMPENSATION FUND)

meaning as assigned to it in the Act;

"binding legal instruments" means any directly applicable measures, including but not limited to any implementing technical standards, regulatory technical standards or any similar measures issued under European Union legislation;

''business of motor insurance'' means the business of insurance of group 2 as specified in Part II of the Third Schedule to the Act or any class or part class thereof;

''competent authority'' shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Act;

"European compensation body" means a body set up or authorised by a Member State other than Malta, with the task of providing compensation to injured parties who are resident within its territory for damage to property or personal injuries caused by a vehicle, in terms of Articles 10a(1) and 25a(1) of the Motor Insurance Directive;

"European insurance undertaking" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Act;

"European regulatory authority" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Act;

''Financial Services Tribunal'' shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in article 57 of the Act;

"from Malta" shall be construed as the carrying on of motor vehicle liability insurance business by an insurer in another Member State outside of Malta, and excludes any motor vehicle liability insurance business carried on exclusively in Malta;

"Fund A" means the fund which is composed of contributions made by insurers which carry on:

(a) long term business in Malta in any one (1) or more of the following classes specified in the Second Schedule to the Act: I, II, IV, VII and IX; and, or

(b) general business in Malta in any one (1) or more of the following classes or part classes specified in the Third Schedule to the Act: 1, where the insured is an individual, 2, 3, 8, 9, 13, 16, 17 and 18; and, or

(c) class 10 in terms of the Third Schedule to the Act, also referred to as motor vehicle liability insurance business which is carried on in Malta until the day preceding the initiation date;

"Fund B" means the fund which is composed of contributions made by insurers which carry on motor vehicle liability insurance business in Malta on, or after the initiation date as the case may be;

"Fund C" means the fund which is composed of contributions made by insurers which carry on motor vehicle liability insurance business from Malta on, or after the initiation date, as the case may be;

"Fund D" means the fund in relation to any civil liability in terms of Part V;

''gross premiums'', in relation to an insurer and a calendar year, means premiums after deduction of discounts, refunds and rebates of premium and premiums receivable by the insurer under reinsurance contracts accepted by the undertaking but before deduction of premiums for reinsurance ceded and before deduction of commission payable by the undertaking:

Provided that, in the case of an insurer which is an undertaking whose head office is in a country outside Malta, or an undertaking whose head office is in Malta and carries on business of insurance in a country outside Malta, excluding motor vehicle liability insurance business on, or after the initiation date, the gross premium income relates to premium income attributable to business of insurance carried on by the insurer in Malta:

Provided further that in the case of an insurer which is an undertaking whose head office is in Malta and which carries on motor vehicle liability insurance business in Malta and, or from Malta, after the initiation date, the gross premium income relates to premium income attributable to motor vehicle liability insurance business carried on by the insurer in Malta and from Malta, after the initiation date;

"home Member State" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in regulation 2(1) of the European Passport Rights for Insurance and Reinsurance Undertakings Regulations;

"initiation date" means the 10th July 2024, being the date of entry into force of the agreements referred to in the first paragraph of Article 10a (13) and the first paragraph of Article 25a (13) of the Motor Insurance Directive; COMPENSATION FUND)

"injured party" and "party injured" means any person entitled to compensation in respect of any loss or injury caused by vehicles;

''insolvent insurer'' shall, for the purposes of Part III, be construed in accordance with regulation 19(1), and for the purposes of Part IV shall mean an insurer or a European insurance undertaking subject to bankruptcy, winding up proceedings or any other equivalent proceedings;

''insurer'' means:

(a) for the purposes of Fund A, in terms of Part III, an insurance undertaking authorised under the Act to carry on in Malta long term business or general business or an insurance undertaking which is authorised thereunder to carry on both long term business and general business whether or not such business is, in each case, combined with business of reinsurance. An insurance undertaking whose business is restricted to reinsurance and an undertaking which only in so far as it carries on motor vehicle liability insurance business on or after the initiation date shall be excluded;

(b) for the purposes of Fund B, in terms of Part IV, an insurance undertaking authorised under the Act to carry on motor vehicle liability insurance business in Malta on or after the initiation date;

(c) for the purposes of Fund C, in terms of Part IV, an insurance undertaking authorised under the Act to carry on motor vehicle liability insurance business from Malta on or after the initiation date;

(d) for the purposes of Fund D in terms of Part V, an insurance undertaking authorised under the Act to carry on motor vehicle liability insurance business in Malta:

Provided that for the purposes of Fund A, Fund B and Fund D, an insurer shall include a branch of a third country insurance undertaking authorised under article 11 of the Act;

''insurer concerned'' shall have the meaning as assigned to it in regulation 40;

"liquidator" means:

(a) in Malta, a liquidator appointed under the

Companies Act or the Act, as applicable, to an insurer and includes the official receiver when acting in the capacity of liquidator; or

(b) in another Member State or EEA State, any person or body appointed by the foreign authorities, foreign administrative or judicial authorities or by the governing bodies of a European insurance undertaking authorised in that Member State or EEA State, for the purposes of administering winding-up proceedings;

''Management Committee'' means the Protection and Compensation Fund Management Committee established by regulation 5;

"Motor Insurance Directive" means Directive 2009/103/ EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles and the enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability, as amended from time to time, and includes any binding legal instruments, guidelines and any other measures that have been or may be issued thereunder;

"motor vehicle liability insurance business" means business of insurance of class 10 as specified in Part I of the Third Schedule to the Act;

''protected commitment'' shall be construed in accordance with regulation 3(4)(a)(ii);

''protected liability'' shall be construed in accordance with regulation 3(4)(d);

''protected risk'' shall be construed in accordance with regulations 3(4)(a)(i) and 3(4) (b);

''the Protection and Compensation Fund" shall be interpreted and construed in terms of Part XI of the Act and shall comprise of Funds A, B, C and D as established by article 49 of the Act;

"Solvency II Directive" means Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II) (recast), as amended from time to time, and includes any binding legal instruments, guidelines and any other measures that have been or may be issued thereunder;

"third country insurance undertaking" shall have the COMPENSATION FUND)

same meaning as assigned to it in the Act;

"vehicle" shall have the same meaning as assigned to

"motor vehicle" in article 2 of the Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third Party Risks) Ordinance, and the term "vehicle" shall be construed accordingly;

"winding-up proceedings" means:

(a) for an insurer, the collective proceedings involving the realisation of the assets of an insurance undertaking and the distribution of the proceeds among the insurance creditors, creditors, shareholders or members as appropriate, which necessarily involve any intervention by the relevant authorities or by foreign authorities or foreign administrative or judicial authorities, including where the collective proceedings are terminated by a composition or other analogous measure, whether or not they are founded on insolvency or are voluntary or wound up by the court;

(b) for a European insurance undertaking, the winding-up proceedings as defined in Article 268(1)(d) of the Solvency II Directive.

(2) The words and expressions which are used in the Act shall, unless defined otherwise in these regulations, have the same meanings as assigned to it in the Act.

(3) These regulations shall not apply to an authorised reinsurance undertaking.