In September 2013, the Maltese government implemented the Protection of the Whistleblower Act, 2013: an act to make provision for procedures that provide protection to persons who report improper practices and wrongdoings at the workplace, in both the private sector and the public administration.
The Directive – (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law – was adopted on 23 October 2019 and entered into force on 16 December 2019. This has led to the amendment of the Protection of the Whistleblower Act (CAP 527 of the Laws of Malta) which came into force in December 2021.
Anyone who wants to raise the alarm on an act of corruption or illegality can do so safely within the Whistleblower Act. By the implementation of this legislation the citizens are given the right to report abuses, knowing they will be protected by law.
Internal Reporting
Reporting persons can report wrongdoings to an internal officer who will refer the report for further follow-up while retaining the identity of the reporting person in strict confidentiality. The reporting person will remain anonymous and therefore protected from retaliation at the workplace.
External Reporting
If no such internal channel is in place, or the report is not investigated effectively, the reporting person may report externally to one of the competent authorities mentioned in the law. These include: the Commissioner of Revenue (CfR), Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Commissioner for Voluntary Organisation (CVO), Permanent Commission Against Corruption and the Ombudsman.
For Public Sector Employees External Whistleblowing Officer has been appointed within the Cabinet Office.
Each Government Ministry is represented by a Whistleblowing Reporting Officer (WRO). The WRO is responsible for receiving internal disclosures and addressing the concerns raised by the whistleblower accordingly.
The contact details of the Whistleblowing Reporting Officer within the Office of the Prime Minister are outlined below:
Reception Office, Finance and Administration Directorate within the Support Services Division in the Office of the Prime Minister
The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (Cap 586) regulate the processing of personal data whether held electronically or in manual form. The Reception Office, Finance and Administration Directorate within the Support Services Division (SSD) in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is set to fully comply with the Data Protection Principles as set out in such data protection legislation.
Purposes for collecting data
The Reception Office, Finance and Administration Directorate, SSD, OPM collects and processes information to carry out its obligations in accordance with present legislation. This processing is necessary to control visitor access into the Auberge de Castille for security and safety purposes. All data is collected and processed in accordance with Data Protection Legislation, and the Government of Malta ICT Policy.
Recipients of data
Personal information is accessed by the employees who are assigned to carry out the functions of the Reception Office, by the Director (Finance and Administration), SSD and by the Information Management Unit, OPM. Personal Data collected by this Office may be disclosed to OPM employees housed in the Auberge de Castille. Disclosure can also be made to third parties but only as authorized by law.
Your rights
You are entitled to know, free of charge, the information the Reception Office in the Finance and Administration Directorate, SSD, OPM holds and processes about you and why, who has access to it, how it is held and kept up to date, for how long it is kept, and what the Unit is doing to comply with data protection legislation.
The GDPR establishes a formal procedure for dealing with data subject access requests. All data subjects have the right to access any personal information kept about them by the Reception Office either on computer or in manual format. Requests for access to personal information by data subjects are to be made in writing and sent to the Director (Finance and Administration), Finance and Administration Directorate, SSD, OPM. Your identification details such as ID number, name and surname have to be submitted with the request for access. In case we encounter identification difficulties, you may be required to present an identification document.
The Reception Office in the Finance and Administration Directorate, SSD, OPM aims to comply as quickly as possible with requests for access to personal information and will ensure that it is provided within a reasonable timeframe and in any case not later than one month from receipt of request, unless there is good reason for delay. When a request for access cannot be met within a reasonable time, the reason will be explained in writing to the data subject making the request. Should there be any data breaches, the data subject will be informed accordingly.
Data subjects have the right to request that their information is not used or is amended if it results to be incorrect. Data subjects may also request that their data is erased.
These rights may be restricted, if applicable, as per Data Protection Legislation.
In case you are not satisfied with the outcome of your access request, you may refer a complaint to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner, whose contact details are provided below.
Retention Policy
Your personal data is collected for legitimate interests.
The following schedule outlines the retention requirements for the data held within the Reception Office, Finance and Administration Directorate, SSD, OPM
Category
Retention Period
Justification
Identification Details (Name, Surname, ID No.) of individuals, other than OPM employees, entering Auberge de Castille.
Six (6) months
For security purposes
Representation (individual attending on one’s personal behalf or on behalf of named business company/ organisation / entity etc)
Six (6) months
For security purposes
Data that needs to be destroyed after the noted timeframes will be disposed of in an efficient manner ensuring that such information is no longer available within the Reception Office, Finance and Administration Directorate, SSD, OPM.
The Data Protection Officer may be contacted on email address:-dataprotectionofficer.humanresources.opm@gov.mt or by telephone:- 2200 1025.
Director ( Finance and Administration), SSD, OPM
The Director (Finance and Administration), SSD,may be contacted at:
Award of Honours and Decorations to Maltese Citizens
Malta pays public tribute to Maltese citizens who have distinguished themselves in different walks of life and whose contribution and achievement enrich the general well-being of their fellow countrymen. Any Maltese citizen, a group of persons or a voluntary organisation which is duly enrolled with the Commissioner in terms of the Voluntary Organisation Act may be nominated for the award of an honour on Republic Day.
Nominations can be sent on the prescribed Nomination Form, addressed to the Chairman, Nominations Committee, Office of the Prime Minister, Auberge de Castille, Valletta VLT 2000.
Nomination forms may be collected from the Office of the Prime Minister, Auberge de Castille, Valletta or downloaded from the website of the Office of the Prime Minister www.opm.gov.mt. For further information, one may contact the Cabinet Office on 22001481.
The persons nominated should neither be approached for details, nor informed about their nomination.
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