The Appeals Court on Friday overturned a First Hall judgement that found Michele Peresso Ltd guilty of discrimination against persons with a disability with regard to access to Europharma, which forms part of the Eurosport complex in Psaila Street.

The First Hall 2005 sentence found in favour of the national commission’s claim that access to the medical centre frequented by people with a disability was discriminatory.

It was proved that an access ramp was too steep and that an alternative entrance was through a garage on the side of the building and by way of a lift, which the First Hall saw as being added discrimination for people with a disability.

Michele Peresso said, among other legal arguments, that it was the court case that was discriminatory in its regard, since there must be thousands of inaccessible public places in Malta, so why was the company being targeted?

The commission replied that there had been complaints about other places but in all these cases, the complaints had been resolved through discussion.

The First Hall found the company guilty of discrimination and ordered it to carry out the necessary work.

The Appeals Court, while disagreeing with most of the points raised by the company, strongly disagreed with the point made by the commission at the appeal stage that access for people with a disability had to be provided at the main entrance of the complex as it would otherwise be discriminatory.

By means of a careful reading of the 2000 Act, the Appeals Court concluded that before finding that a place is discriminatory or otherwise, all the circumstances of the case must be considered. It said it could not agree with the First Hall that just because the other access was through the side of the building, this constituted a “humiliation” of people with a disability. The fact that access is provided through a garage, and that it is necessary to ring a bell in order for the garage door to be opened, does constitute a certain inconvenience, especially since there is not enough signage, but controlled access does not, in itself, constitute no access.

The Appeals Court was composed of Chief Justice Vincent de Gaetano, Judge Albert Magri and Judge Tonio Mallia.