Update 31/07/206 – Suggestion form has been disabled and suggestions sent to MTA as per list below
The Malta Tourism Authority is currently doing a consultation exercise with Diving Centres, Diving Clubs, and interested parties on the Diving Services Regulations – Subsidiary Legislation S.L. 409.13.
Briefly, this is the legal notice that regulates providers of diving services such as diving schools and clubs, but which of course also means divers may be affected – so it is in the interest of all of us to participate.
As the MTA has not issued a public call, we have created a simple form to collect individual feedback and which we will pass on by the 31 July. We expect dive centres and clubs to submit their own feedback, and we will do the same. The form is at the end of this page. Once a suggestion is submitted, this will be visible in the list of suggestions received before and which will be underneath (refresh page to see yours)
Suggestions we will submit from our end on which you can comment too:
- Diving should be recognised in the law’s introduction as a recreational activity for both local divers and tourists. At present, diving is treated almost exclusively as a tourist activity, overlooking the hundreds of local divers who dive regularly.
- Add definitions for non-profit diving clubs and members of such clubs to be considered throughout certain provisions of the law which should not apply for non-profit entities.
- Simplified procedure for non-profit clubs duly registered and compliant with Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations and the Malta Business Registry to provide basic dive services to members (organisation of diving for independent divers, training) without requiring licensing procedures and permanent own premises. Additional services by clubs (e.g. rental of equipment, gas fills) to require same level of safety standards and records but limited to members only.
- Adapted regulations for Diving Officer requirements to enable persons who do not work full-time as diving instructors in the diving industry to serve as Diving Officer in clubs, without compromising on ability, knowledge, and experience.
- Mandatory medical via hyperbaric medical expert every 5 years for divers over 50 years old, 2 years if suffering for certain conditions. Yearly instructor/dive guide medical requirement to remain the same as is but adapted depending to levels of instruction or guiding conducted (e.g. recreational diving / technical).
- Establishment of a Diving Safety Board formed by Public, Academic, Private, and non-governmental entities to oversee diving safety matters, including but not limited to infrastructure, regulations updates, ongoing assessments of diving service providers, enforcement, collaboration with other authorities in matters related to diving, scientific research etc.
- Investigation function under same board to assess diving accidents and near misses or complaints and produce periodic public report highlighting identified potential causes and good practices. Immediate public notification in case of individual bans of diving service providers / individuals from providing or obtaining services.
- Mandatory self-reporting by all diving service providers of material accidents and/or near misses to Diving Safety Board for assessment, learning, action, and enforcement if needed.
- Creation of Whistleblowing facility for reporting of unsafe/illegal practices by diving service providers, individual divers and public.
- Update regulations on advertising of diving services to ensure these include authorisation information and a hyperlink to a newly created online register of diving service providers which includes entity information, authorised services, material non-compliance cases, and enforcement actions to encourage safeguarding of reputation and the diving environment.
- Requirement for any person partaking in scuba diving activities in local waters (save for a try-dive in sheltered waters and under supervision of an instructor) to obtain a 5-year licence for such activity, for which the requirement should be:
- Holding an independent diver qualification and/or in the process of obtaining it.
- Proof of undertaking a short and concise basic diving safety and environmental introduction to diving in the Maltese Islands covering diving laws, environmental laws related to diving, basic environmental considerations, diving safety and basic first aid protocols. These can be attended both online or in person via diving service providers.
- Not be subject to bans from the Diving Safety Board.
[Suggestions form closed]
Suggestions received (forwarded to MTA on 31/07/2026)
(to see yours, refresh page after you click “submit” above)
Suggestions |
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Diving should be recognised in the law’s introduction as a recreational activity for both local divers and tourists. At present, diving is treated almost exclusively as a tourist activity, overlooking the hundreds of local divers who dive regularly. |
Add definitions for non-profit diving clubs and members of such clubs to be considered throughout certain provisions of the law which should not apply for non-profit entities. |
Simplified procedure for non-profit clubs duly registered and compliant with Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations and the Malta Business Registry to provide basic dive services to members (organisation of diving for independent divers, training) without requiring licensing procedures and permanent own premises. Additional services by clubs (e.g. rental of equipment, gas fills) to require same level of safety standards and records but limited to members only. |
Adapted regulations for Diving Officer requirements to enable persons who do not work full-time as diving instructors in the diving industry to serve as Diving Officer in clubs, without compromising on ability, knowledge, and experience. |
Mandatory medical via hyperbaric medical expert every 5 years for divers over 50 years old, 2 years if suffering for certain conditions. Yearly instructor/dive guide medical requirement to remain the same as is but adapted depending to levels of instruction or guiding conducted (e.g. recreational diving / technical). |
Establishment of a Diving Safety Board formed by Public, Academic, Private, and non-governmental entities to oversee diving safety matters, including but not limited to infrastructure, regulations updates, ongoing assessments of diving service providers, enforcement, collaboration with other authorities in matters related to diving, scientific research etc. |
Investigation function under same board to assess diving accidents and near misses or complaints and produce periodic public report highlighting identified potential causes and good practices. Immediate public notification in case of individual bans of diving service providers / individuals from providing or obtaining services. |
Mandatory self-reporting by all diving service providers of material accidents and/or near misses to Diving Safety Board for assessment, learning, action, and enforcement if needed. |
Creation of Whistleblowing facility for reporting of unsafe/illegal practices by diving service providers, individual divers and public |
Update regulations on advertising of diving services to ensure these include authorisation information and a hyperlink to a newly created online register of diving service providers which includes entity information, authorised services, material non-compliance cases, and enforcement actions to encourage safeguarding of reputation and the diving environment. |
Requirement for any person partaking in scuba diving activities in local waters (save for a try-dive in sheltered waters and under supervision of an instructor) to obtain a 5-year licence for such activity, for which the requirement should be: Holding an independent diver qualification and/or in the process of obtaining it. Proof of undertaking a short and concise basic diving safety and environmental introduction to diving in the Maltese Islands covering diving laws, environmental laws related to diving, basic environmental considerations, diving safety and basic first aid protocols. These can be attended both online or in person via diving service providers. Not be subject to bans from the Diving Safety Board. |
Malta offers numerous prestigious dive sites with well-equipped entry points. Given the number of divers at these sites, it would be desirable to see first aid stations installed at some popular locations, and perhaps even a rescue team ready to intervene with, for example, a rigid inflatable boat to shorten response times for divers involved in accidents. Some sites are also plagued by thefts from dive vehicles. The presence of this rescue team could limit temptations, even if it's not their primary function. Many foreign divers are also unaware of emergency procedures; contact numbers and dedicated services are not provided in dive centers, and only the dive guide receives this training. An accident could also involve the guide, and this lack of information could jeopardize their own safety. Many foreign divers no longer carry their phones for fear of theft. Perhaps installing emergency call boxes, like those on roads, would guarantee greater safety. Pascal P (French Diver) |
Requirement for any person partaking in scuba diving activities in local waters (save for a try-dive in sheltered waters and under supervision of an instructor) to obtain a 5-year licence for such activity, for which the requirement should be Would people on holiday need this (if their diving with a center, or independent? Would diving instructors that are new to the islands need this? Would current (full time) instructors need this? How much would the 5 year fee be? Why would somebody here on holiday, that may only visit once, want to pay extra for a license, that lasts five years, when they already have their qualifications? |
As I understand this only applies to scuba diving, other forms of recreational diving like freediving or spearfishing is not included in any way. |
Director of diving, requirement to be at the dive centre at all operational times, in cases where there is only one person operating. Is outdated - and slight over site for smaller operations. This forced requirement is against traditional ‘general’ business laws stating its is illegal to be ‘told’ by governments to employ. ‘Maltese constitution’. In general the safety equipment and action plans in place including local EMS, responses are adequate enough for the director of diving to be ‘available’ within 2-3 hours of notification. |
The medical statement in the Schedule to S.L. 409.13 is still a paper, ink-signature form that has to be completed in full at every dive centre a diver visits, even by returning clients who completed an equivalent statement elsewhere within the same year. I'd suggest introducing a portable, Authority-recognised digital diver credential — medical statement, qualifications, and insurance proof combined — that a diver completes once, ideally before arrival for visiting tourists, and shares with any licensee by consent. This would cut repeat paperwork for tourists and locals alike, and give the Authority a genuinely auditable record instead of paper files that, for organised and guided dives, are currently discarded after just one month under Regulation 24(1)(b). |
The medical statement in the Schedule requires a mandatory in-person physician consultation for a wide range of broadly defined conditions — any history of lung disease, any psychiatric history, or being over 45 with high cholesterol, for example. For a visiting diver on a short trip, arranging a local medical appointment can be difficult, and can mean missing planned dives over something a dive-medicine-literate clinician might clear in minutes. I'd suggest adopting a more tiered, risk-stratified questionnaire, and amending Regulations 16(1)(b) and 23(8)(b) to allow the physician consultation to be satisfied by a telemedicine consultation with a dive-medicine-qualified physician, rather than requiring an in-person GP visit. |
Mandatory medical via hyperbaric medical expert every 5 years for divers over 50 years old, 2 years if suffering for certain conditions. Yearly instructor/dive guide medical requirement to remain the same as is but adapted depending to levels of instruction or guiding conducted (e.g. recreational diving / technical). -- Is the 5 years certificate obligatory for tourists as well? Kindly note that hyperbaric unit is not available in all countries from where tourists are coming from. How should the dive center verify the foreign doctor issued such certification? How should the dive center handle doctor`s certification in various languages? Such documents are not easy to translate and understand. Shall the tourist obtain an official translation before coming for 2 dives in Malta? How much such measures would cause tourists refraining to come to Malta for a dive? |
Let the PDSA members self police the diving activities, they are the experts on the sport, they already work to ISO standards and more external interference will only complicate things. My opinion as a visiting BSAC Advanced Instructor and Club Training Officer from the UK. |
Points 6, 7 and 9- There is already DAN and quality management, internal reporting system of the diving organisations (e.g PADI and SSI etc) accordingly what is the value the Diving Safety Board would add to this system? PADI and SSI already follow up reports received trough internal reporting systems. The criminal procedure covers the investigations of such incidents. The criminal procedure also includes the scope of experts etc. It is recommended to make divers and diving instructors aware of the possible criminal and civil liability connected to such activities. How would this Board check that a banned individual is not diving? What is the procedure to ban someone from diving, including the possibility to appeal against such decisions? Point 11 - The requirements of the course should be obligatory only for local divers as this might cause that tourists decide not to choose Malta as a diving destination |
The Director of diving should be able to be sole owner and instructor, to be able to work independently of their license. |
The Director of diving should be able to be sole owner and instructor and should be able to work independently of their license. |
The Director of diving should be able to be the sole owner as well as the instructor and be able to work independently of their license. |
The Director of Diving should be able to be sole owner and instructor, to be able to work independently of their license. |
that Director of diving should be able to be sole owner and instructor, to be able to work independently of their license. |