Quebec Online Consolidated Statutes Have Official Status

Among the most important pieces of legislation that came into force last January First is the Act respecting the Compilation of Québec Laws and Regulations, S.Q. 2009, c. 40 (version française : L.Q. 2009, c. 40).

Pursuant to this Act, all consolidated statutes published by the Québec Official Publisher have official status “whatever the medium used“, including of course those published online by the Publications du Québec. Consolidations of regulatory texts will have official status on January first 2012. In the mean time, certain regulations will have official status if so stated within the published document.

The Act also provides that updates and consolidations must be accompanied by explanatory notes describing the nature and scope of any changes made to the published documents, which is in itself a major improvement to online publication of legislative consolidations.

Slaw already reported that Ontario and the Federal jurisdiction also have granted official status to their online consolidations of laws. What will be the next Canadian jurisdiction to jump in?