Malta: Selected Issues

This Selected Issues Paper discusses institutional and capacity constraints in Malta’s judicial sector. The paper suggests reforms to modernize judicial procedures, enhance the mortgage enforcement toolkit, and improve the insolvency regime. Cross-country studies show positive growth and investment spillovers from judicial efficiency reforms. Malta’s economy and business climate would benefit from further strengthening of judicial institutions and modernization of court processes. Malta’s judicial system should continue to be strengthened to ensure the competence of the judiciary and the efficiency of court proceedings, including through timely case resolutions. Malta should ensure affordable, transparent, and reasonably predictable mechanisms to enforce credit claims through reliable methods. Streamlining judicial procedures in commercial disputes, debt enforcement and insolvency cases, including by revamping and modernizing court notifications rules, and identifying and addressing delay tactics through abuse of the existing framework for deferrals and objections. Revisiting of debtor rights to reclaim the property for 2 years after its auction sale to ensure unencumbered property titles.