MDTA

MALTA DENTAL TECHNOLOGISTS

ASSOCIATION

The MDTA is a Non-Government Organisation, representing the Profession of Dental Technology as one of the Allied Health Care Professions regulated by the Council for the Professions Complimentary to Medicine, stipulated by the Health Care Act.

'Legal Notice 20 of 2017 Health Care Professions Act (Cap 464) Schedule IV confirms the Association as the sole Professional Body representing Dental Technology'.

• To inform and advise members of the latest developments in the range of professional services.

• To support and implement initiatives to improve standards related to work, materials, and services, according to EU Directives.

• To encourage schemes and programs related to training and education in the field of dental technology- CPDs’-

• To lobby with relevant Local Authorities and liaise with other International Dental Technology organizations to protect the interest of the industry.

• To promote the Profession and participate with our International peers on EU standards, regulations, and directives related to the Profession.

Revised 2009

• The name of this organisation will be called The Malta Dental Technologists Association.
  

• The association’s correspondence should be addressed to the secretary and/or the president
  

• The aims of the association are the following:
  
• To protect and defend the interests of its members whenever needed.
  
• To resist with any legal means, unjust and unreasonable conditions imposed on its members.
  
• To attain and recommend regulations safeguarding its members’ interests and, which promote or resist, as the case may be, directives that are related towards its members.
  
• This organisation is non-tradeunionistic, not politically associated and is a non-profit making organization as defined in the Voluntary Organisations Act (Chapter 492 of the Laws of Malta)
  
• 
  
• Only registered dental technologists (with the Council for the Professions Complimentary to Medicine) are entitled to be members of this organization
  

• Signed members are due to observe the association’s regulations and any directives that the committee establishes.
  

• Membership will come into effect on payment of the annual fees.

• The committee will be composed of 5 members, who will be elected at the annual general meeting.
  

• The newly elected committee will maintain its duties for one year. The committee will include a president, secretary, treasurer, and two members who are also elected at the AGM.
  

• The second highest contestant for that position at the AGM will take any vacancies of a committee member. In case of the same number of votes, there will be another voting session till the vacancy is filled. If no nominations are submitted, a general meeting will be held.
  

• For a committee meeting to be held there must be a quorum of at least 3 members including the president or the secretary.
  

• The president will chair meetings and has the right of a casting vote. In his absence, a committee member nominated by the members present at the meeting will chair the meeting.
  

• The secretary, whose duties involve correspondence, registration of members, and the organization of all the association’s gatherings will hold all minutes of the meeting.
  

• All payments or funds to the association should be collected or sent to the treasurer. He/she must submit a review of all the financial accounts throughout the past year of the AGM. All financial dealings must be clearly recorded and may be observed at any time of the year. He/she will pay all bills or expenses authorized by the committee or the GM
  

• The Association may obtain a pecuniary gain from its activities when such gain is not received or credited to any private interest but is exclusively utilised for the purposes of the Organisation. It may also buy, sell, or otherwise deal in goods or services where such activities are exclusively related to its principal purposes.
  

• Cheques are to be signed by the president and treasurer.
  

• The president and or secretary represent the MDTA for any related matters or issues including Civil Court sittings.

• An extraordinary GM may be held:
• To fill in vacancies at committee level
  
• To fill in vacancies at committee level
• To discuss and decide on any matter submitted to the committee, or any proposal/request of members, that is signed by not less than 5 members.

• The association should hold a GM once a year, where a new committee is elected after the president submits a full report of all the activities the organization held and the meetings it attended in relation to the interests of its members. The treasurer also presents the annual financial report.
  

• Notice for a GM must be received not less than three working days before the scheduled date. When members who for some reason, have not been notified, this does not render the meeting invalid. For urgent matters, a GM may be assembled by a call on the radio or any other means of communication.
  

• The quorum for a GM is reached when two-thirds of all registered members are present; there will be a half-hour delay on the same premises in case a quorum is not attained with those present.
  

• Majority votes are decisive in a GM and when equal numbers of votes occur, the president will have a casting vote.
  

• Funds related to the association must be utilised according to the committee’s directives. The monies when amounting to over €116, should be deposited at a local bank, which the same committee has approved.
  

• Every member of the association has the right to submit his/her complaint/request to the committee. Should the complaint/report regard another of its members, the committee is bound to receive the other member’s view to come to a compromise and if possible find a just solution between the two parties.
  

• If the report concerns a third party, the committee is duty-bound to protect the interests of its members. If the report involves any of its principles or the general interests of the association, the committee should call for a GM to discuss, decide, and forward the necessary proceedings in support of its member and the association’s interests.
  

• Nominations should be notified three weeks before the new committee is formed. The nominees should be known a week before the AGM where the new committee is elected.
  

• Upon dissolution, all assets of the Association shall be applied in favor of another organization with similar purposes which may be selected by the administrators and members.
  

Zagreb-Croatia 8th/9th September

Administrative

The Board carried on with its administrative duties post-pandemic, meeting both online and

physically, and for our last meeting, we met in Zagreb in preparation of this AGM. We were

greeted by the President of the Croatian Chamber with whom we shared ways and ideas for

the benefit of the European Dental Technician movement.

A mid-term online meeting was held with all member associations to keep them informed of

the work carried by FEPPD, which meeting resulted to be a success for the interactions that

took place with the Board and among the members themselves.

Following our presence at the IDS 2023, we established contact with some EU states

associations with regards to our functions and their possible joining us.

We kept a close contact with Confartigianato Odontotecnici of Italy, and reliable sources

indicate that they will be eager to re-join our Organisation by next year when they will be

having a new Board.

The Board has struck a new deal with the legal firm FAROS, enabling us to do away with the

expensive costs we used to pay annually to CONTRAST. The new legal firm will be paid for

individual services rendered to FEPPD.

Luc Gultentops from the Belgian Association was instrumental for such a deal to be

concluded, to whom goes our appreciation.

Political

On the 70th anniversary year from the founding of our Organisation, by way of hard work

and possibly destiny, our main focus of the Cobalt issue took a positive twist.

After years of contending that the mischievous CMR status attributed to this important

component, that for decades has been part of our profession, finally, we have achieved the

first step to have it reviewed by the EU Commission.

Given the lengthy correspondences over a two year period that at times were exhausting, we

managed to convince the Commission that on the grounds of our strong argumentations

supported by the scientific proof provided by the ISO 22674 immersion test, the Commission

had to accept our request, and in a diplomatic move, ordered a fresh revision on this

substance by the REACH Committee.

This was one big turnaround by the Commission, for after having asked the European

Chemical Agency to test bluntly Cobalt in its own form, presented a legislation to the

European Parliament, whose MEPs voted upon believing that what was passed to them was

correct and legitimate, now it has to review all the matter again in the light of the

observations we set to their attention.

Having FEPPD won this first battle was no easy task, and we look forward for the

Commission’s final verdict with contained optimism, as we would not want to count the

chickens before they are hatched. Sure is, that our input has been recognised with

objectivity and we have proved ourselves worthy of the important role we carry, as

contributing partners to the same Commission.

We are now monitoring how Cobalt-Chrome alloys are considered in the U.S.,according to

their Regulatory Body, in order to further substantiate our cause, and to present further

material to the European parliament ahead of its reconsidering the new status of Cobalt and

its use in dental alloys.

A second success for our Organisation was the fact that on another issue, we were proven

right in the correct interpretation of a clause within the MDR.

Earlier this year, the Commission issued the Guidance Note by the M.D.G.C., the Medical

Devices Co-ordination Group. re: Health Institutions exempted from Art (5) Reg 2017/746.

Five years back we had written to the Commission that the Council of European Dentists

was trying to go around the Regulation, in order to do away with the obligation to fully

observe the MDR. In manufacturing dental devices from chairside CAD/CAM units, they

were misleadingly claiming that private clinics are health Institutions, in order to exclude

themselves from being considered Manufacturers, and thus not having to conform with the

Regulation.

This was going to be unfair competition with regards to our practices.

The Guidance Note, appropriately distinguished what a Health Institution is, the typical

patients it caters for, and that the devices it offers are not Custom-made devices, for which

they are exempt from conforming to the MDR.

It thus contradicted fully the CED’s malicious pretensions and specified that private dental

clinics are not health institutions and dental devices produced in-house are

effectively Custom-made devices, which carry the obligation to conform to the MDR.

Whilst we noted that the MDCG takes too long to address pending issues, we rejoiced at

having been instrumental to the rightful interpretation of this Article (5), and that in our

transparent way of doing things, we validated once more our competent role in the eyes of

the Commission.

On the other hand, no one would have been happy to be in the shoes of the CED board that

had signed that statement, which by this Guidance Note, took a beating for having tried to

trick the Commission.

Conclusion

FEPPD is 70 years old thanks to the people that had believed that there needed to be a European

Federation of Associations representing the profession of the Dental Technician, the Laboratory

Owners and the staff that worked within their structures.

We owe them a lot for having had the vision to establish such a resilient Organisation that stood the

test of time.

It is for this that we feel responsible and committed to keep this federation going, holding the same

ideals, fortified by the results we keep getting for a better environment of practice, for the common

good of the European dental technician movement. Lets keep honouring this glorious Federation.

Pierre Zammit,

Secretary General FEPPD