Sports and Entertainment are two ever-growing industries in Malta and issues cropping up in relation to them are effectively catered for by a number of rules and regulations, including the Sports Act (Chapter 455 of the Laws of Malta) enacted in 2009. With respect to the Entertainment Industry, Malta has not only ratified a Co-Production Treaty with Canada but it has also entered into the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production, by means of which Malta managed to effect a number of bilateral Co-Production Treaties with the rest of the European Member States, amongst others.
Malta is also a member of the OECD Model Convention, by means of which it benefits from a tax structure, whereby “income derived by a resident of a Contracting State as an entertainer, such as a theatre, motion picture, radio or television artiste, or a musician, or as a sportsman, from his personal activities as such exercised in the other Contracting State, may be taxed in that other State.” Furthermore, Malta’s favourable tax regime furnishes professional sportsmen and entertainers with the opportunity of having their income received in, or routed through Malta, in the form of royalties.