The Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector is calling on authorities to suspend new regulations implemented in September which impose a number of new requirements for voluntary organisations and charity shops to undertake fundraising activities. 

Addressing a press conference today, the council’s chairperson Noel Camilleri said the council was against a one-size-fits-all approach to the sector, adding that several provisions in the new regulations would have to be changed or scrapped altogether. 

A report outlining the proposed changes is expected to be published in the coming days. 

The regulations introduced the need for organisations to apply with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations (VOs) every time they wished to collect funds. 

They would also have obliged VOs to do so using containers obtained from the Commissioner’s office while also introducing any funds collected to be counted by a public officer within the Office of the Commissioner. 

The new regulations were described as a hindrance to people’s right to associate with any group they liked. Civil society group Repubblika was the first to sound the alarm about the regulations, which have been publicly opposed by over 79 voluntary organisations and 90 band clubs. 

Responding to pushback from the sector, Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima, who is responsible for the sector, had said that he would be addressing the concerns raised.

Do you think these new regulations should be scrapped?