Quebec Government Introduces Bill That Would Make Electronic Laws Official

The Quebec Government yesterday introduced Bill 18 in the National Assembly.

Officially known as An Act respecting the Compilation of Québec Laws and Regulations, one of its effects would be to give official status to electronic versions of Quebec statutes.

Section 17 of the Bill reads:

"17. The laws published by the Québec Official Publisher on its website, including the Civil Code and the Act respecting the implementation of the Civil Code, are the laws of the compilation and have official status as of (insert the date of coming into force of this Act)."

"Within 24 months following that date, the Minister is to review the administrative version of all regulations, published on that website, with a view to identifying those which, in the Minister's opinion, are of such a nature as to justify their inclusion in the compilation, and to carrying out any updating and consolidation activities the Minister judges appropriate. All regulations published on that website on (insert the date occurring 24 months after the date of coming into force of this Act) have official status as of that date; the Minister may, however, before that date, indicate upon the publication of certain regulations that they have been revised and that they have official status as of the date of that publication."

The Bill would also simplify procedures for updating and consolidating laws and regulations.

As of November 30, 2008, electronic copies of Ontario statutes and regulations on the e-Laws website are considered official copies of the law in that province.