Official Gazette Bill, 2023

No.       of 2023.               Official Gazette Bill, 2023          Saint Christopher  

                                                      and Nevis.

SAINT CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS

No.         of 2023

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SECTIONS 

1. Short title and commencement. 
2. Repeal.
3. Interpretation. 
4. Establishment of a Gazette Website. 
5. Publication and certification of Gazette. 
6. Appointment of Printer. 
7. Power to authorize publication in the Gazette. 
8. Publication of consolidated indexes of Acts, subsidiary legislations and Bills. 
9. Status of matters published in the Gazette.
10. Past publications of the Gazette. 
11. Minister may authorize revised reprints of written laws. 
12. Status of reprints of written laws. 
13. Offences and penalties. 
14. Regulations. 

No.       of 2023.               Official Gazette Bill, 2023          Saint Christopher  

                                                      and Nevis.

SAINT CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS

No.         of 2023

A BILL to provide for the digitization and publication of the Official Gazette of Saint Christopher and Nevis and to provide for matters incidental thereto.

BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the National Assembly of Saint Christopher and Nevis, and by the authority of the same as follows:

1. Short title and commencement.

(1) This Act may be cited as the Official Gazette Bill, 2023.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by Order, appoint.

2. Repeal.

The Gazette (Authorisation) Act, Cap. 2.02, of the Laws of Saint Christopher and Nevis is hereby repealed.

3. Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

“Clerk” means the Clerk to the National Assembly;

“Printer” refers to the person whose name is printed on all printed copies of the Gazette published pursuant to section 4(3); 

“Gazette” has the meaning assigned to it by section 119 of the Constitution and includes the Official Gazette, Supplement to the Official Gazette and Extraordinary Gazette published under the authority of the Government in printed form or in digital form;

“Government” means the Government of the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis;

 “Government Printery” means any printer, for the time being, authorized by the Cabinet Secretary to print the Gazette; 

“Law Revision Commissioner” means the Commissioner appointed under the Law Commission Act, Cap. 1.03; 

“Minister” means the Minister responsible for legal affairs;

“National Assembly Elections Act” means the National Assembly Elections Act, Cap. 2.01;

“statutory document” means a notice, report or any other document issued under an Act or subsidiary legislation to give notice, notification or general information of an executive character but which does not form part of the laws of Saint Christopher and Nevis; 

“subsidiary legislation” means any regulation, rule, by-law, proclamation, order in council, order, direction, notice, form or other instrument made under any Act or other lawful authority and having legislative effect; 

“website” means a website of the Government established under section 4 for the purposes of publishing the Gazette and made available for viewing by persons with access to the world wide web at www.gazette.gov.kn.

4. Establishment of a Gazette website.

(1) For the purposes of the digitization and publication of the Gazette, the Cabinet Secretary shall establish a website where the Gazette shall be published. 

(2) A publication of the Gazette on the website established under subsection (1) is a publication of the Gazette under the authority of the Government.

(2) A publication of the Gazette on the website shall also publish the time at, and date on, which the Gazette was published.

5. Publication and certification of Gazette.

(1) Every publication of the Gazette shall be published by the Government Printery in digital format on the website. 

(2) A printed form of the Gazette may be published by the Government Printery as directed by the Cabinet Secretary.

(3) All printed copies of the Gazette published by the Government Printery shall have imprinted, at the end, the name of the printer who printed the Gazette with the words “by authority” added thereafter.

(3) The Printer may, on a request made by any person who has paid a prescribed sum, certify whether a printed form of a Gazette was published under the authority of the Government.

6. Appointment of Printer.

(1) The Governor General on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission shall appoint the Printer of the Gazette, who shall be responsible for the preparation and management of the Gazette. 

(2) The Governor General on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission shall appoint such other officers as are considered necessary to assist the Printer in the performance of the Printer’s duties. 

(3) The Printer shall work under the direction and control of the Cabinet Secretary.

7. Power to authorize publication in the Gazette.

(1) In accordance with the provisions of section 42 of the Constitution of Saint Christopher and Nevis and section 19 of the National Assembly Elections Act, the Governor General shall, as soon as practicable, cause a Bill which has been passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the Governor General to be published in the Gazette, whereupon it shall become law on the date and time of publication or such other date and time as may be prescribed in the Act. 

(2) Where an Act confers power on a person or an authority to make subsidiary legislation, that person or authority may forward a signed physical copy and a digital copy of the subsidiary legislation to the Minister, and the Minister may instruct the Printer to publish the subsidiary legislation in the Gazette. 

(3) Where any law in force in Saint Christopher and Nevis requires the publication of any statutory document, such statutory document shall be published in the Gazette, and such publication is deemed to be due publication and shall be judicially noticed.

(4) The Minister may cause any notice, document, paper, agreement, international convention or such other written material which, in the opinion of the Cabinet, is in the public interest, to be published in the Gazette.

8. Publication of consolidated indexes of Acts, subsidiary legislation and Bills.

As soon as practicable after the fifteenth day of January in every year, the Minister, on the advice of the Law Revision Commissioner and the Clerk, shall direct the Printer to publish in the Gazette an annual index of all Bills, Acts and subsidiary legislation published in the Gazette between the period of the first day of January and the last day of December of the preceding year.

9. Status of matters published in the Gazette.

Every copy of the Gazette, whether published on the website or printed by the Printer, shall be judicially noticed and is admissible in evidence in legal proceedings without any proof being given that the copy was so published unless the contrary is shown.

10. Past publications of the Gazette.

(1) All printed copies of the Gazette, printed before the coming into operation of this Act are declared to have been and are deemed to be issues of the Gazette legally printed and published, and shall have effect and be admissible in evidence accordingly. 

11. Minister may authorize revised reprints of written laws.

Whenever it is necessary to publish a reprint of any Gazette, the Minister may, by Order published in the Gazette, authorize the — 

1. republishing of any reprinted Gazette on the website and include in that 

reprint any alteration, amendment or modification made in any Bill, Act, subsidiary legislation or statutory document; and

(b) to correct in that reprint any grammatical or typographical error and similar errors in a written law or statutory document and, for that purpose, to make additions, omissions or alterations not affecting the meaning of a written law.

12. Status of reprints of written laws.

Every copy of any published reprint of any written law which has been revised for reprinting pursuant to an Order of the Minister under section 11, is deemed to be an authentic and a correct copy of that written law in force in Saint Christopher and Nevis on the date of such reprinting provided that such date is printed on each copy and provided further that each such copy purports to be printed by the Government Printery by authority of an Order of the Minister made under this Act.

13. Offences and Penalties.
14. Any person who — 

1. prints any paper which falsely purports to be a duly authorized copy of the Gazette;

2. wilfully causes to be published in the Gazette any false or inaccurate matter;

(b) tenders in evidence any such paper falsely purporting to be the Gazette, knowing that the paper was not duly printed or published by the Printer;  

commits a felony and on conviction shall be liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years with or without hard labour. 

(2) Any person who contravenes any regulation made under this Act, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding thirty thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

14. Regulations.

The Minister may generally make regulations to give effect to the provisions of this Act, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the Minister may, in particular, by regulations —

(a) determine the manner, form, times and occasions on which the Gazette is published; 

(b) prescribe the fees and charges for a subscription to the Gazette; 

(c) prescribe the charges for publication of statutory documents, notices, advertisement and other documents; 

(d) prescribe fees for the certification of Gazette publications; 

(e) prescribe any other matter necessary for the due administration of this Act.

……………………………..

Lanein K. Blanchette

          Speaker

Passed by the National Assembly this                day of                             , 2023.

                                                                         ……..………………………………….

Trevlyn Stapleton

Clerk of the National Assembly