From Dr L. Zahra BA, LL.D

It is becoming the norm for many people, especially government entities, to violate the public’s right to information by unashamedly hiding behind the Data Protection Act as an excuse for withholding information. Such is the common practice of the Registrar of Companies and the MSFA.

A client of mine recently rang the Registrar of Companies to obtain the home address of a company director against whom we were going to file a warrant of seizure. A female voice replied that such information could not be given over the telephone, because, she said, “they had to satisfy the requirement of the Data Protection Act”. This statement is untrue since information about any Maltese registered company is available on the MFSA’s website on payment.

Refusing to supply information over the telephone is anachronistic. It’s like having to go personally to speak to someone just like our ancestors did before the telephone was invented! Is this the image the MFSA is eager to project?

Furthermore, the MFSA is grossly mistaken if it thinks that it is serving the general public well simply because it has set up a website. The MFSA ought to appreciate that not every Joe Citizen’s access to the Internet is as easy as his access to the telephone. The MFSA should remember that many people have superb business acumen, but no reading and writing skills, either because they are illiterate or because they are dyslexic. The Internet is useless for people with such difficulties and that is why, if we do not want to be discriminatory, we should accept that some people have every right to prefer using the telephone as a means of communication or for gathering information.

Lynn Zahra

SLIEMA