Malta has no stand-alone “anti-spam act”. Instead, the rules for marketing emails and texts are spread across EU regulation, a national statute and a piece of subsidiary legislation, with the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) overseeing all three. This page maps how they fit together so you know which question each one answers. It is general information, not legal advice.
Three layers, one regulator
1. The GDPR
As an EU member state, Malta applies the General Data Protection Regulation directly. It decides whether you may process personal data at all, what you must tell people, how long you may keep data and what rights subscribers have (access, erasure, objection). Its maximum fines reach €20 million or 4% of worldwide annual turnover.
2. The Data Protection Act (Cap. 586)
The 2018 Act fills in the areas GDPR leaves to member states. It establishes the IDPC’s powers, sets the fine ceilings for public authorities and bodies, and deals with procedural matters such as appeals.
3. S.L. 586.01, the ePrivacy regulations
The Processing of Personal Data (Electronic Communications Sector) Regulations are where the day-to-day marketing rules live: prior consent in writing for marketing by electronic mail (a definition that also captures SMS), the soft opt-in for existing customers, the ban on hiding the sender’s identity and the requirement for a valid opt-out address. They also cover cookies, which matters if you track newsletter clicks on your website. Breaches can cost up to €23,293.73 per violation plus a daily penalty while the breach continues. We break this down in detail in are email campaigns legal in Malta.
Questions Maltese marketers actually ask
Can I email business contacts without consent?
Generally not. Unlike some countries that relax the rules for corporate addresses, Malta’s regulation applies to legal persons as well as individuals. Treat a B2B list the same way as a consumer list.
Can I import the list from my old booking system?
Only for contacts who opted in or who qualify for the soft opt-in because they bought from you, and only to promote similar products. Guests who merely made an enquiry are a grey area; if in doubt, send a single re-permission message rather than a promotion.
Do I need consent in Maltese as well as English?
The law requires consent to be informed, which means the person must understand what they are agreeing to. Both English and Maltese are official languages. If your audience is primarily Maltese-speaking, offering the consent wording in Maltese is good practice. Mailpro’s multilingual email guide covers how to run parallel language versions.
Can I buy a list of Maltese email addresses?
Purchased lists almost never carry valid written consent for your company, and small markets make complaints easy to trace. Don’t buy email lists; build your own with forms.
Sector overlays: iGaming, finance and tourism
Many Mailpro users in Malta work in regulated industries. Operators licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority must respect its rules on commercial communications, including responsible-gambling messaging and not targeting excluded players, so suppression lists deserve extra care. Firms supervised by the Malta Financial Services Authority need promotional content that is fair, clear and not misleading. Hotels and tour operators mostly deal with consumer protection and the soft opt-in for past guests. See the email marketing for banks and tourism pages for sector workflows.
Where the IDPC fits in
The IDPC receives complaints, investigates and imposes administrative fines. It has publicly fined organisations for data protection failures, including a €5,000 fine on the Lands Authority in 2019 following a data breach. Its decisions can be appealed to the Data Protection Appeals Tribunal.
How Mailpro helps you comply
- Consent capture: double opt-in subscription with a stored confirmation record.
- Automatic unsubscribes: every campaign includes an opt-out link and suppressed contacts are excluded from future sends.
- Swiss hosting: data stays on private Swiss infrastructure, outside US jurisdiction, in a country covered by an EU adequacy decision. Mailpro has been GDPR-native since the regulation arrived and never sells or rents data. Details are on our GDPR page.
Next step: learn how to obtain valid permission from Maltese subscribers.