Law to change to break long-term Gazette monopoly

Wednesday 10 May 2017

After 57 years, a law change is now being put forward allowing States departments, the parishes and private companies to publish a notice in the Jersey Gazette without having to pay to put it in the Jersey Evening Post.

Since 1960 it has been a legal requirement to publish a whole range of official notices in the JEP, paying whatever was set as the going rate for page space.

The notices deal with a wide range of local life from new legislation, public meetings and road closures, to dog licences, elections, or companies in liquidation.

A request submitted under the Freedom Of Information law, revealed that the average annual cost to the States alone (not including the amounts paid by the Parishes or the whole private sector) was £278,065 between 2011 and 2014, with the Environment, Infrastructure and Education departments being the biggest spenders. 

That figure was confirmed in January with States being told that moving the Gazette online would save taxpayers £245,000 a year, again not including the amount saved by the parishes or private sector companies. 

More than a year ago, the Chief Minister first signalled that the exclusive arrangement with the JEP was to come to an end - and now a law is being proposed removing the legal requirement to use the JEP, and so allowing the full use of other forums, such as gov.je, instead. 

A statement from the Chief Minister's Department stated:

"A change in the law is being proposed to end the requirement for the Jersey Gazette, which publishes new laws, enactments and other official notices, to be printed in a local newspaper. If approved, the proposition will allow the Gazette to be officially published on the government’s website, where Islanders could access government information online and free of charge."

Assistant Minister, Deputy Scott Wickenden, who has responsibility for e-government and the digital industry, said: “Publishing the information online allows additional ways to publicise the government’s official notices. The information will be available via Twitter to social media users, and free of charge via RSS to any organisation interested in providing an information service to their audiences. Subscribers to the MyGov service can opt to receive official notices via email.

“Moving to an online format is in keeping with the government’s move to e-government. Parishes and government departments will still be free to use additional means of informing Islanders of events or laws they want to publicise, by advertising, for instance, in print, on TV or radio.”

Removing the legal requirement to publish official notices in the JEP has also been supported by the competition regulator, with its Chief Executive Mike Byrne saying in May last year:

“CICRA has been advising the States for some time that the current exclusivity given to the publication of Gazette notices is unfair and did not create a level playing field; this is even more of the case in the digital age.

“CICRA is pleased to see signs of progress in this area and looks forward to the final removal of the legal barriers that remain in place to the publication of Gazette notices.”

Bailiwick Express has already launched a Gazette section to increase the exposure of official, and personal, notices, which you can find here. Director Mark Jackson commented:

"We welcome this news as a very sensible move to reflect the way Islanders now get their information. When the previous law was passed in 1960, the idea that people would access their local information minute-to minute on a multitude of hand-held electronic devices would have seemed like science fiction. Well that 'future' has been with us for some years now, and so we're really pleased to see that the law is finally catching up. We will be competing in this market, and I'm sure others will too, and that's good news for the local consumer, who for the first time since 1960, will actually have a real choice."