Key Official Fitness and Propriety Requirements Feedback
In September 2015, the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) launched a public consultation entitled ‘Revision of the Key Official fitness and propriety requirements as a means to achieve enhanced compliance capability of remote gaming licensees’.
The primary objective of this consultation was to understand the industry’s perspective on the subject matter and take it into account when drafting new policies and procedures. As stated in the consultation document, ‘while the focus on honesty and integrity will remain an integral and essential part of the MGA’s assessment, the MGA further believes that the fitness and propriety of a person to fulfil the Key Official (KO) function depends also on a person’s capabilities and competencies including: the applicant’s full understanding of the KO’s function, sound knowledge of KO’s obligations at law and in practice the ability to supervise the compliance of remote gaming licensees and the general understanding of the remote gaming operation and its specific challenges.’
The consultation touched upon several areas including the introduction of professional qualification/certification to become a Key Official, the required professional experience, the introduction of a requirement for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) including possible content and length of CPD.
The consultation put forward ten questions and touched upon several areas including the introduction of professional qualification/certification to become a Key Official, the required professional experience, the introduction and length of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) hours that are intended to be introduced as well as the requirements and content.
The public consultation closed on Friday 16 October 2015 and a total of 18 replies were received. Replies were received from four main categories of respondents, namely: key officials, operators, representative bodies and individuals who provided their personal opinion on the subject matter, who were classified as ‘others’. A summary of the responses and the individual responses is presented in the table hereunder.
Stakeholders
The following is the list of stakeholders who submitted their feedback, sorted according by the interest groups which they represent:
· Key Officials
· Operators
· Representative Bodies
· Others
The MGA would like to thank all the participants for taking the time to reply to the consultation questions and provide their valuable feedback. The feedback received will be analysed and assessed in further detail and taken into account when establishing its policy position, which will eventually be included in the new regulatory framework, on the requirements which must be met by the person fulfilling the Key Official function.
Original Consultation
Malta is in the process of overhauling its regulatory framework governing the gaming sector in order to future proof the industry and align it to new realities and challenges. A wide range of policies are being critically reviewed to amongst other things, continuously raise standards of governance and reinforce the supervisory and compliance monitoring of the industry by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).
The MGA’s fit and proper guidelines are one of a series of measures to be launched by the MGA in order to ensure a consistent and transparent approach in its regulatory outreach in the interests of all stakeholders and customers alike.
These Guidelines set out the minimum criteria applicable to all relevant persons falling under all the activities regulated by the MGA in accordance with applicable law. The MGA’s vision is to ensure that it facilitates effective compliance, reduce administrative burdens and duplication of requirements on the industry without compromising its regulatory ethos. A revamped set of application and reporting guidelines together with updated official application forms shall also be issued in the coming weeks together with other regulatory “quick win” announcements forming part of the MGA’s intensive transformation process referred to in the recently published annual report for 2014.
The MGA has recognised the necessity to strengthen the requirements which must be met by the person fulfilling the Key Official function. In doing so, the MGA aims to strengthen the compliance capability of the licensee which has become a more critical feature of the MGA’s fit and proper assessment. The Authority’s objective in this area is generally to ensure that an operator has sufficient compliance capability and competence allocated to the right official/s who will in turn enhance the systemic compliance performance of its licensees.
While the governance and risk management review and the fit and proper assessment policy framework address all forms of gaming operations and licensees, including land-based, this consultation deals only with the Key Official function of remote gaming operations. Notwithstanding the specificity of this consultation, the MGA is envisaging the adoption of similar requirements for key officials for land-based licensees.
The Fit and Proper Guidelines can be accessed here, whereas the Consultation on the Key Official fitness and propriety requirements can be viewed here.