S.L. 464.20 Art. 29Administrative penalties.

(1) Where a health care professional is found guilty of the charges brought against him, the Disciplinary Committee shall decide on the appropriate disciplinary measure on the basis of the principles established in regulation 8(f) to ensure proportionality between the disciplinary measure and the gravity of the misconduct.

(2) Where the Disciplinary Committee in its decision finds that the health care professional is unfit to continue to practise his profession on account of some physical or mental infirmity, the relevant Council shall proceed with erasure of the name of the health care professional concerned from the register in terms of the provisions of the Act.

(3) In those cases where the Disciplinary Committee deems that the professional misconduct or breach of ethical standards is of minor consequence to the profession, its reputation, the practice or to the complainant or aggrieved party concerned, as the case may be, the Disciplinary Committee may:

(a) issue a letter of warning;

(b) impose an administrative penalty of not less than one hundred and fifty euro (€150) but not exceeding one thousand five hundred euro (€1,500);

(c) declare that in the event that the member is found guilty of any other breach of professional conduct or ethical standards by the Disciplinary Committee within the ensuing year (1), the subsequent breach shall be considered in conjunction with the former breach in determining the severity of the disciplinary measure to be taken; or

(d) apply any combination of the measures referred to above.

(4) In those cases where the Disciplinary Committee deems that the professional misconduct or the breach of ethical standards is of moderate consequence to the profession, its reputation, the practice or to the complainant or aggrieved party concerned, as the case may be, the Disciplinary Committee may:

(a) issue a letter of reprimand;

(b) impose an administrative penalty of not less than one thousand five hundred euro (€1,500) but not exceeding eight thousand euro (€8,000);

(c) declare that in the event that the member is found guilty of any other breach of professional conduct or a breach of ethical standards by the Disciplinary Committee within the ensuing two (2) years, the subsequent breach shall be considered in conjunction with the former breach in determining the severity of the disciplinary measure to be taken;

(d) order the temporary removal of the member from the Register for a period of not less than one (1) month but not exceeding eight (8) months in accordance with the provisions of the Act:

Provided that the Disciplinary Committee may impose conditions on the member for reinstatement to the Register such as the obligation to successfully undertake specific training or partake in a continuous professional development programme during the said period of application of the disciplinary measure; or

(e) apply any combination of the measures referred to above.

(5) In those cases where the Disciplinary Committee deems that the professional misconduct or breach of ethical standards is of grave consequence to the profession, its reputation, the practice or to the complainant or aggrieved party concerned, as the case may be, the Disciplinary Committee may:

(a) issue a letter of reprimand and declare that should the health care professional be found guilty of any other breach of professional conduct or ethical standards by the Disciplinary Committee within the ensuing three (3) years, the subsequent breach shall be considered in conjunction with the former breach in determining the severity of the disciplinary measure to be taken;

(b) impose an administrative penalty of not less than eight thousand euro (€8,000) but not exceeding twenty thousand euro (€20,000);

(c) order the temporary removal of the member from the Register:

Provided that the period of temporary removal shall be of a minimum of nine (9) months but not exceeding eighteen (18) months:

Provided further that the Disciplinary Committee may impose conditions on the health care professional for reinstatement to the Register such as the obligation to successfully undertake specific training or partake in a continuous professional development programme during the said period of application of disciplinary measure;

(d) order the erasure of the name of the health care professional from the Register in accordance with the provisions of the Act; or

(e) apply any combination of the measures referred to above.