Recent Parliamentary Library Publications from Canada, UK, and Australia

Among the recent publications from the parliamentary libraries in Canada, the UK and Australia that have come to my attention are:

• Judicial Review: A short guide to claims in the Administrative Court (House of Commons Library, UK): "The paper seeks to explain how claimants bring applications for judicial review and also discusses the procedures for lodging and defending a claim. It considers the statistical trends in the Administrative Court and assesses some of the conflicts that have been identified between the executive and the judiciary following claims for judicial review, particularly in the field of Home Affairs."
• International Management of Chemicals (Library of Parliament of Canada): "Governments worldwide are examining new approaches to chemicals management in order to improve environmental and public safety and health, while encouraging a competitive chemicals industry. The Canadian Environmental Protection Act 1999 (CEPA 1999) is Canada’s attempt at a new generation of chemicals legislation and it contains some aspects that are internationally groundbreaking. To put CEPA 1999 into international context, this paper provides an overview of principal chemicals legislation in the United States and Australia and the new legislation proposed in the European Union (EU). CEPA 1999 is currently under statutory parliamentary review, and a section of this document briefly discusses these international efforts with respect to some of the issues identified to date in the review."
• HIV/AIDS - Past, Present and Future (Library of Parliament of Canada): "The first case of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in Canada was reported in February 1982, and the virus responsible, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), was discovered in 1983. Over the past 25 years, governments have spent billions of dollars and scientists have worked exhaustively in order to develop treatments, preventative vaccines and a cure for the fatal disease. This paper will briefly describe the origins of the epidemic, the present state of the epidemic and the recent scientific advances in the fight to contain and treat the infection."
• Elections around the World 2006 (Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia): "This electronic brief provides links to web-based information and full-text articles relevant to selected countries having national elections in 2006. The electronic brief will cover all elections held in the Pacific region, but coverage will be selective for Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Elections may be presidential or parliamentary (legislative). It will also cover elections that are regionally significant. "