The Maltese Criminal Code is a comprehensive legal instrument consolidating substantive penal laws and criminal procedure. While its primary focus is on traditional crimes against persons, property, public order, and the State, it contains several provisions address offenses that intersect with natural resource management and infrastructure protection (water, energy, sewers), property (including agricultural land and goods), and public safety (explosives, radioactive materials). It also establishes jurisdiction over Malta’s exclusive economic zone, making it a relevant tool for enforcing regulations related to fisheries and marine environmental protection when read together with specific sectoral laws. 1. Crimes Against Public Safety and Property (Title IX, Part II) This section covers, among other, Explosives and Dangerous Substances: it criminalizes the malicious use of explosive substances, lethal devices, and radioactive or nuclear material likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, reflecting concerns for environmental and public safety. It also concerns the Theft of Natural Resources: it defines theft aggravated by "means," specifically including the unlawful breaking of pipes for water, gas, or electricity services or the use of artificial means to alter consumption measurement. Theft of water, gas, or electric current is deemed completed when the unlawful communication is effected. It regulates the Infrastructure Protection as well by criminalizing willful damage to public aqueducts, cisterns, electric machinery/cables, public sewers, telegraphs, and energy meters. This directly safeguards essential environmental and energy infrastructure. 2. Among the Crimes Against Public Trust (Title V, Part II)the text foresees the Fraud (Art. 298) which addresses commercial fraud, including the application of false trade descriptions to goods (e.g., regarding number, quantity, place of origin, or mode of manufacture) and the counterfeiting of trade marks, which is relevant to food authenticity and consumer protection in agricultural trade.
马耳他 · 1854-06-10