The BCA contractor licence in Malta: three activities, two years

A mason who has laid stone in Malta for thirty years, employs two men and has never had a complaint, is committing an offence today if he does not hold a construction licence. The maximum is six months' imprisonment or a 50,000 euro fine, plus 5,000 euro for every further day.

The licensing authority is the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), established under the Building and Construction Authority Act (Chapter 623). The Construction Industry Licensing Regulations, 2023 — Legal Notice 166 of 2023, made under articles 11A and 17 of that Act — are the most significant change to how a Maltese trade business is allowed to operate in a generation. They took full effect on 1 January 2025, and the transitional windows that softened the landing are all closed.

What is licensed, and what is not

Schedule I is three lines long:

(a) demolition; (b) excavation and piling; (c) construction.

Regulation 4(1) requires each to be carried out by the holder of a licence, and a separate application is needed for each activity you undertake — regulation 14(4) says so expressly, and Schedule III charges 100 euro per activity.

The one relief is in the proviso to regulation 4(1): minor works may be carried out by the holder of a construction licence. "Minor works" is defined at length in regulation 2, and the definition is worth reading in full before you rely on it. It covers works that "in their nature do not constitute major excavation, demolition or building works, but are considered as incidental work", and names examples: minor alterations of a building, such as the opening or closure of apertures and removing or building of walls; excavations for laying foundations and pipe works, or lift pits; and trimming works "which may only be carried out with handheld equipment".

It then names what is not minor: the definition "does not involve demolition or construction of structures or buildings, including the removal or construction of roofs", and it excludes "excavation works in relation to the construction of reservoirs, pools, or basements, or works related to clearance or trimming of land".

So a construction licence covers you to open a doorway. It does not cover you to take a roof off, and it does not cover you to dig a pool.

The people it applies to — including your subcontractors

Two provisions widen the regulations well beyond the firm whose name is on the contract.

Regulation 2 defines "licensed contractor" as the holder of a valid licence, "and the term 'licensed contractor' for the purpose of these regulations shall also include sub-contractors".

Regulation 5(2) then defines assuming the exercise of an activity as covering "any person or entity actually executing works relative to any of the service activities under their responsibility, or a person or entity who in any manner employs, engages or entrusts workers to execute works relative to any of the service activities under that person's or that entity's responsibility".

Read together: the main contractor is caught because he engages the workers, and the subcontractor is caught because he executes the work. Both need licences. A main contractor putting an unlicensed subcontractor on a site is not merely taking a commercial risk — he is exposed under regulations he himself is licensed under.

The same relationship is regulated from the money side too. Article 26B of the Commercial Code applies the late payment rules expressly to transactions "between main contractors and their suppliers and subcontractors" — what that limb is worth when a main contractor does not pay is in debt collection in Malta: interest, costs and the judicial letter. And the VAT number you ask a subcontractor for at the same time as his licence number is the switch that decides which document he owes you — see which document a Maltese customer gets, fiscal receipt or tax invoice.

Government departments are the narrow exception. The Director of Public Works, the Commissioner of Police, the Commander of the Armed Forces, the Director of Civil Protection "or any other Government department" may be exempted under regulation 4(1), but only on a request submitted to and approved by the Board under article 21 of the Act.

Classes: A is a person, B is a company

There is no A/B/C ranking by turnover or complexity here, which is what most people assume. Schedule III makes the split plain:

On top of that sits the application fee under Schedule III item 1: 100 euro each for demolition, excavation and construction. A duplicate certificate is 100 euro; so is an application to cancel a licence.

The fees are trivial next to the compliance burden, and that is the point. The barrier is not money — it is the criteria in Schedule II and the documentation in regulation 15.

What the Committee actually tests

Regulation 14(2) sets four conditions. The applicant must meet the requirements of regulation 15, hold the criteria thresholds in Schedule II, provide "sufficient evidence of sound knowledge of the subjects listed in item 1" of the relevant Part of Schedule II, and be a person of good repute and conduct and appropriate financial standing — for an entity, each of the directors must be of good repute and the entity itself of appropriate financial standing.

Good repute is defined negatively in regulation 14(3): convictions for serious criminal offences of misappropriation and fraud in the last five years; conviction in the past two years of an offence under the Act or its regulations; or conviction of a corresponding offence abroad.

Schedule II sets the technical competences per activity. For demolition, Part A requires demonstrated competence in demolition works, dismantling of structural and non-structural elements, construction waste separation and separate storage, correct loading on trucks, shoring techniques, adequate knowledge of the Act and the Construction Management Site Regulations, and adequate knowledge of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority Act and its regulations.

Two documentation requirements catch small firms out:

• A masons licence. The proviso to regulation 15(6): any applicant for the service activity in Part C of Schedule II must also submit a valid masons licence — the licence for masonry works under the Code of Police Laws.
• Language. Regulation 15(5) requires the applicant to possess or employ a person with good command of Maltese or English, failing which the applicant must provide an interpreter to facilitate proper communication.

Financial standing is assessed on the Committee's discretion under regulation 15(4), with regard to updated annual accounts, funds available including overdraft and loan facilities, and assets available as security.

The requirement that reaches every man on the site

Part C item 5 of Schedule II is the provision with the widest practical effect, and it is not about the licence holder at all:

As from 1st January 2025, the licensed contractor shall ensure that all workers who are in any manner engaged, entrusted or employed with the licensed contractor to execute construction works are licensed masons or hold a Level 3 certification in block layering issued in accordance with the National Occupational Standards, or hold any other qualifications or experience which the Committee considers to be equivalent or a suitable alternative.

The proviso is the escape route, and it is a supervision route, not an exemption: workers without the qualification "may continue to carry out construction works under the constant supervision of a licensed mason or of a person holding the Level 3 block-laying certification" or an accepted equivalent.

Part B carries the same structure for excavation, with a different qualification: from 1 January 2025 every worker executing excavation works holds a Level 4 certification as an Excavation Plant Supervisor under the National Occupational Standards, or works under the constant supervision of someone who does.

For a small firm this is the real cost of the regime. The licence fee is 100 or 200 euro. Getting the crew certified, or arranging the site so that a qualified person is genuinely present rather than nominally responsible, is the part that takes a year.

The eligibility criteria for the construction licence itself run along the same line. A natural person applying as a construction contractor needs a mason's licence and at least three years' experience in construction work, a list of all certified equipment to be used, and the capacity to ensure that all construction works on a site are supervised by a licensed mason or equivalent. An entity needs a mason's licence with three years' experience or three years in construction management supported by references from at least two building projects; it must employ at least one full-time licensed mason unless the applicant is itself so certified; and it must be at least a Level 3 certified block layer under the National Occupational Standards.

Insurance is not advice, it is a licence condition

Regulation 5(3):

The licence holder shall ensure that any works carried out to any service activity listed in Schedule I shall be covered by a valid insurance policy which provides cover against any loss or damage that may be sustained by any person consequent to any act or omission occasioned by the licensed contractor or workers who operate under his direction in the execution of works, as well as against damages at the place of work, including bodily harm that may be sustained by an employee.

Three heads of cover in one sentence: third-party loss and damage, damage at the place of work, and bodily harm to an employee. An unrenewed policy is therefore not just an uninsured exposure — it is a breach of regulation 5, and regulation 23(2) makes a breach of the regulations an offence carrying up to 10,000 euro and 500 euro per continuing day.

Regulation 5(1) adds the rest of the licensee's duties: abide by the conditions of the licence and any orders or directions of the Authority; ensure that the execution of any work conforms with the practices, guidelines and regulations for the licensed activity; and abide by any directions issued by the perit or any other person responsible by law.

The dates that actually bite

Once you hold a licence, four timing rules run permanently in the background.

Two years. Regulation 20(1): licences remain valid for two years from the date of issue of the Licence Certificate and are subject to renewal every two years.

Ninety days. The same regulation: the renewal application must reach the Chief Executive Officer "not later than ninety (90) days prior to the expiry date of the valid licence". Regulation 20(2) then applies the whole determination process of regulations 16 to 19 to the renewal — including the sixty-day decision period. Ninety days is not a courtesy; it is what makes the arithmetic work.

Three working days. Regulation 21(2) and (3): where a licensed administrator ceases to occupy the post or leaves the licensee's employment, the administrator or the licensee must notify the Authority in writing within three working days and suspend the exercise of the licensed activity during that period. A new administrator must be notified within three working days of appointment, and regulation 21(4) keeps the activity suspended until the Committee approves the appointment.

Without delay. Regulation 21(1): any change in the licence details, in the nominated persons satisfying the criteria thresholds, or in the information submitted with the application must be notified without delay.

Regulation 20(3) and (4) add a duty that is easy to overlook: the Committee may require the applicant to attend courses or training where it finds insufficient professional competency, and the Authority may require attendance where new practices or regulations have been introduced. Attendance and completion count toward subsequent renewals.

Carry the certificate, and know what the BCA Register holds

Regulation 18(2) is one sentence and it is enforceable on site:

The Licence Certificate shall be in the possession of the licensed contractor at all times.

The same details also go into the Register that the Building and Construction Authority keeps under regulation 18(4) of L.N. 166 of 2023: the licence holder, the date of issue, the service activity licensed, and any conditions imposed on the licence. Conditions matter here — regulation 17(2)(f) lets the Committee grant a licence subject to conditions, so two contractors holding the same class of licence are not necessarily permitted to do the same work.

Appeals, if it goes wrong

Refusal is not the end. Regulation 19(2) gives the applicant twenty days from receipt of a refusal notice to make written submissions to the Committee explaining why the application should not be refused, and the Committee must consider them before reaching a final decision. A refusal that stands may be appealed to the Building and Construction Tribunal within twenty days of publication of the notice on the Department of Information website (regulation 19(4)(b)). The same twenty-day appeal right attaches to a grant with conditions under regulation 17(2)(f).

A licence answers whether you may do the job at all. It says nothing about what you charge for it: every euro of a licensed job — labour, materials, the licence and insurance costs themselves — carries Malta's standard rate, covered in Eighteen per cent, every time: VAT on building work in Malta.

The Licence Certificate is also rarely asked for on its own. A main contractor taking on a new subcontractor wants the licence, the insurance policy and the VAT certificate in the same folder, and the third of those is a document in its own right — VAT number and VAT certificate in Malta: what each is for.

A short checklist

1. Hold a separate licence for each of demolition, excavation and piling, and construction that you actually do. One application and one 100 euro fee per activity.
2. Check the "minor works" definition before treating a job as incidental. Roofs, pools, reservoirs, basements and land clearance are outside it.
3. Verify your subcontractors' licences before they come on site. The regulations reach the firm that engages the workers as well as the firm that swings the hammer.
4. Diarize renewal at twenty-one months, not at twenty-four. Ninety days' lead time is a hard requirement.
5. Treat the insurance renewal as a licence matter. It is written into regulation 5(3).
6. Keep the Licence Certificate on the person, and notify the Authority of any change without delay — three working days where a licensed administrator moves.

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Position as at 6 September 2026. This article describes the regulations and is not legal advice. Every provision cited is taken from Legal Notice 166 of 2023 as published on legislation.mt on the date shown. Legal notices under the Building and Construction Authority Act are amended by further legal notice, so check the current version on legislation.mt before relying on a fee, a date or a criterion. Applications and renewals go through the Building and Construction Authority.

What Zirko does here: nothing about the licence itself — that is between you and the Authority. What Zirko can hold is the paperwork around it: the certificate and the insurance policy as documents with expiry dates, so the ninety-day renewal window arrives as a reminder rather than as a phone call from the Committee.