S.L. 478.7 Art. 2Interpretation. Cap. 478.   Cap. 325.

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

"Act" means the Malta Film Commission Act;

"certificate of provisional approval" means the certificate issued in terms of regulation 5 following receipt of relevant application and supporting documentation and following the due assessment in accordance with the relevant Guidelines;

"Commission" means the Malta Film Commission established by article 3 of the Act;

"Commissioner" means the Film Commissioner appointed in accordance with article 5(1) of the Act;

"completion" means the termination of filming activity, animation, VFX or Virtual Production together with post-production in Malta of an audiovisual production, and "completed" shall be construed accordingly;

"co-production" means a qualifying production which is the subject of a co-production agreement between two (2) or more co-producers;

"eligible expenditure" means the items of expenditure incurred by the qualifying company in relation to the qualifying production that are eligible as established by the Commissioner in accordance with the Guidelines;

"final approval" means the approval granted in accordance with regulation 7;

*Vide regulation 2 of Legal Notice 304 of 2024. FINANCIAL INCENTIVES

"financial incentive" means the financial benefit provided for in regulation 3;

"General Block Exemption Regulation" means Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1237 of 23 July 2021 amending Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in accordance with Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty;

"Guidelines" means the guidelines that may be issued by the Commissioner from time to time;

"qualifying company" means the ultimate beneficiary and the entity responsible for all activities involved in making a qualifying production and having access to the full budget and full financial information for the total production worldwide, which shall be made available to the Commissioner upon his request. Where the qualifying production is a co-production, the co-producers shall appoint one (1) of the co-producers amongst them to act as the qualifying company in respect of the qualifying production for the purposes of these regulations and the appointed co-producer shall be deemed to be the entity responsible for all activities involved in making the qualifying production:

Provided that:

(a) there shall be only one (1) qualifying company with respect to a given qualifying production;

(b) in the case of a co-production, the financial incentive granted shall be apportioned between the co-producers as agreed between them, or in the absence of any agreement to that effect, in proportion to their share in the overall budget of the qualifying production; and

(c) any co-producers shall be jointly and severally liable for their obligations in accordance with the Act and these regulations:

Provided further that when the qualifying company is:

(i) a foreign qualifying company, it shall be either a special purpose corporate vehicle or a company which carries on, or intends to carry on in Malta, a trade or business which is considered as a qualifying production, or a

(ii) a local qualifying company, it shall be either a special purpose vehicle or a company that is duly registered as an audiovisual production company and intends to produce a qualifying production as its main purpose and activity;

"qualifying production" means an audiovisual production that meets the conditions established in article 25 of the Act, the Schedule to the Act and the Guidelines, which the Commissioner may publish from time to time;

"State Aid Monitoring Board" means the State Aid

Monitoring Board constituted in accordance with article 57 of the Business Promotion Act;

"undertaking" means an entity carrying out an economy activity;

"VFX" means visual effects.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-regulation (1), terms and expressions used in these regulations which are not defined herein, shall unless the context otherwise requires, have the same meaning assigned to them in the Act.