States end Gazette monopoly

Wednesday 05 July 2017

A 57 year monopoly has been ended following a States decision to change the law requiring all official notices to be published in the Jersey Evening Post.

Since 1960, the States, parishes, the private sector and bodies such as the Jersey Financial Services Commission, have been forced to pay to print official notices in the Jersey Gazette, which had to be published in the JEP.

The total annual cost to the States alone is estimated to be up to £100,000 with the private sector, parishes and other groups all adding to that, which Senator Philip Ozouf described as "unfairly subsidising" the JEP. Deputy Kristina Moore estimated that St Peter alone spent £9,000 a year in advertising costs for its notices. 

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. 

In February 2016, the States trialled an online publication of the Gazette, posting official notices both on the gov.je website, with other media outlets, such as Bailiwick Express, also publishing that information. 

Yesterday, the States changed the law to remove the legal requirement to pay the JEP to print the notices, with the Assembly voting overwhelmingly in favour of the move - 39 votes to 6 - and opting for the more "cost-effective and efficient" method of moving the Gazette online. 

Several politicians such as Senator Sarah Ferguson, Deputy Jackie Hilton, and Deputy John Le Fondre argued taking the official notices out of the JEP, and putting them online, would discriminate against people who they said might have difficulty using the internet, and could reduce interest in parish affairs. 

But Deputy Scott Wickenden, who was bringing the proposition on behalf of the Chief Minister, argued that notices could still be printed in the JEP if the States, the private sector or parishes chose to do so, but there would be no legal obligation for them to do it. 

The proposition report cites the changing approaches to distributing information by governments worldwide, calling for "the public sector to adapt to the changing behaviour of islanders" as so many in Jersey look online to access information.

The Official Publications (Jersey) Law 1960 legally bound the States to publish all official notices in 'one English language newspaper circulating in Jersey', which has, for 57 years, been prescribed as the JEP.