Malta issued Legal Notice 70 of 2025 on 8 April 2025 to transpose Directive (EU) 2023/977. These new regulations replace Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA and simplify the exchange of information between law enforcement authorities across EU Member States.

The scope of these regulations is to establish rules on the exchange  of  information  between  the  competent  law  enforcement authorities to prevent, detect or investigate criminal offences, in particular on:

(a)  the establishment or designation and the organisation, tasks, composition and capabilities of the International Relations Unit,  including the  deployment  and  operation  of  a  single electronic case management system;

(b)  requests  for  information  submitted  to  the  Single Points of Contact of other Member States, in particular on the content of such requests, the provision of information pursuant to such requests, the working languages of the Single Points of Contact  of  other  Member  States,  mandatory  time  limits  for providing requested information and the reasons for the refusal of such requests;

(c)  the  provision  by  competent  law  enforcement authorities, on their own initiative, of relevant information to the Single Points  of  Contact  of  other  Member  States  or  to  the VERŻJONI ELETTRONIKA competent law enforcement authorities of other Member States, in  particular  the  situations  and  the  manner  in  which  such information is to be provided;

(d)  the default channel of communication to be used for all  exchanges  of  information  under  these  regulations  and  the information to be provided to the Single Points of Contact of other Member States in relation to the exchange of information directly between the competent law enforcement authorities

The regulations set out procedures for cross-border information requests through designated “Single Points of Contact.” In Malta, competent authorities include police and customs officers within the Malta Tax and Customs Administration.

The International Relations Unit has been appointed to coordinate and facilitate these exchanges, ensuring responses are provided within the applicable timeframes and allowing for the proactive sharing of information with relevant EU authorities.