Third

Session, 46th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2010

BILL 37

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

STATUTES ACT

Received and Read the First Time ...................................................................................................

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ............................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE

FELIX COLLINS

Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Bill would provide that the

version of the Acts and regulations published on the House of Assembly website

is an official version. Currently only the version published by the Queen's

Printer is an official one.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE STATUTES ACT

Analysis

Heading Added

PART I

ACTS OF THE LEGISLATURE

S.8 Added

Judicial notice

Part II Added

PART II

FORM AND STATUS OF LEGISLATION

Interpretation

10. Role of Chief

Legislative Counsel

11. Official copy of

legislation

12. Presumption: printed

copy

13. Presumption: website

copy

14. Official copy of

legislation as evidence

15. Official copy of

consolidated

legislation as evidence

16. Legislation on

legislation website not

in force

17. Regulations

Consequential Amdt.

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cS-26

as amended

1. The Statutes

Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 1 the following:

PART I

ACTS OF THE LEGISLATURE

2. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 7 the following:

Judicial notice

8. Judicial

notice shall be taken of the enactment and contents of

an Act.

3. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 8 the following:

PART II

FORM AND STATUS OF LEGISLATION

Interpretation

(1) In

this Part

(a) "consolidated legislation" means

legislation into which are incorporated amendments that are enacted by the

Legislature or filed by the Registrar of Subordinate Legislation under

Part II

of the Statutes and Subordinate

Legislation Act ;

(b) "legislation" means Acts and

subordinate legislation;

(c) "legislation website" means the

website of the House of Assembly for legislation and related materials that is

available on the Internet at www.assembly.nl.ca or another website address specified

by a regulation made under paragraph 17(a); and

(d) "subordinate legislation" means subordinate

legislation as defined in paragraph 9(1)(

e) of the Statutes and Subordinate Legislation Act .

(2) A reference in this Part to amendment in

relation to legislation is also a reference to repeal or revocation, unless a

contrary intention appears.

Role of Chief Legislative

Counsel

10. The

Chief Legislative Counsel shall

(

a) maintain the electronic database of

legislation and consolidated legislation for the legislation website so as to

facilitate convenient and reliable public access to them; and

(

b) safeguard the accuracy and integrity of the

electronic database of legislation and consolidated legislation that appears on

the legislation website.

Official copy of

legislation

(1) A

copy of legislation or consolidated legislation is an official copy if it

(

a) is printed by the Queen's Printer; or

(

b) is accessed from the legislation website in a

form or format prescribed in a regulation made under paragraph 17(b).

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a copy that

is accompanied by a disclaimer to the effect that it is not intended as

official.

(3) In the case of a copy referred to in paragraph

(1)(b), the copy is accompanied by a disclaimer if the disclaimer is on the

legislation website when the copy is accessed.

Presumption:

printed copy

12. Unless

the contrary is proved, a copy of legislation or consolidated legislation

purporting to be printed by the Queen's Printer was so printed.

Presumption: website

copy

13. Unless

the contrary is proved, a copy of legislation or consolidated legislation

submitted with an oral or written statement to the effect that it was accessed

from the legislation website in a form or format prescribed in a regulation

under paragraph 17(

b) was so accessed.

Official copy of

legislation as evidence

14. Unless

the contrary is proved, an official copy of legislation is an accurate

statement of that legislation.

Official copy of

consolidated legislation as evidence

15. Unless

the contrary is proved, an official copy of consolidated legislation is an

accurate statement of the law

(

a) in the case of an official copy described in

paragraph 11(1)(a), on the consolidation date shown on the copy; and

(

b) in the case of an official copy accessed from

the legislation website in a form or format prescribed in a regulation made

under paragraph 17(b), during the period indicated on the legislation website

in respect of the copy when the copy was accessed.

Legislation on

legislation website not in force

(1) Legislation

or consolidated legislation published on the legislation website shall include

provisions that have been enacted by the Legislature or filed under

Part II of

the Statutes and Subordinate Legislation

Act but that are not yet in force.

(2) Where a provision that is not yet in force is

included in legislation published on the legislation website, the fact that it

is not yet in force shall be indicated on the website, in the manner and to the

extent the Chief Legislative Counsel may direct.

Regulations

17. The

minister may make regulations

(

a) specifying another website address for the

purpose of the definition of "legislation website" in paragraph 9(1)(c);

(

b) prescribing forms or formats, including

print-outs, on-screen displays and other output of electronic data for the

purpose of paragraph 11(1)(b),

section 13 and paragraph 15(b); and

(

c) generally to give effect to the purpose of the

Part.

Consequential

Amdt.

(1) Section 28 of the Evidence Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Proof of proclamations

28. Evidence

of a proclamation, order or appointment, made or issued by the

Lieutenant-Governor, or by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council or by or under

the authority of a minister or head of a department of the government, may be

given

(

a) by the production of a copy of the Gazette , purporting to contain a copy of

the proclamation, order or appointment, or a notice of it;

(

b) by the production of a copy of the

proclamation, order or appointment, purporting to be printed by the Queen's

Printer;

(

c) by the production, in the case of a

proclamation, order or appointment made or issued by the Lieutenant-Governor in

Council, of a copy or extract of it purporting to be certified to be true by

the clerk or deputy clerk of the Executive Council; and

(

d) in the case of an order or appointment made or

issued by or under the authority of a minister or head of a department, by the

production of a copy or extract of the proclamation, order, regulation or

appointment purporting to be certified to be true by the minister or by his or

her deputy.

(2) Section 6 of the

Interpretation Act is repealed.

(3) Subsection 12(2) of the Statutes and Subordinate Legislation Act is repealed and the

following substituted:

(2) Judicial notice shall be taken of subordinate

legislation published in the Gazette or

on the legislation website and of the contents and publication of that subordinate

legislation.

(4) Section 12 of the Statutes and Subordinate Legislation Act is amended by adding

immediately after subsection (2) the following:

(2.1) In subsection (2), "legislation website"

has the meaning given it by paragraph 9(1)(

c) of the Statutes Act .

Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer