EU legislation : its effects on the Maltese food industry with particular reference to food safety

Abstract

The following thesis is a review of the legislation currently enforceable in Malta that deals with the aspect of food safety. The thesis deals with national Maltese legislation and European legislation which is directly enforceable on Malta by virtue of our membership in the European Union. This is also compared to legislation in force in the biggest comparable Western food market which is that of the United States of America. The thesis takes an in depth look at the effects of European legislation in legislative terms on the way in which Maltese law has developed to accommodate the requirements of EU law and also discusses the practical implications that the enforceability of EU law have had upon the Maltese food industry. Implementation of European law in Malta has not all been plain sailing even though the desired effects of European law are important even here in Malta. As the thesis shows, certain aspects of EU law require fine tuning, even today, in order to be properly implemented in Malta and this thesis expounds certain ways in which this fine tuning of European law can be done, through the use of tools that were provided in EU law itself.