Working Documents - CIRCA - Europa

European Forum of Official Gazettes 

8 th meeting 

Riga 

15 - 16 September 2011 

Working Documents 

1 

Riga 2011

Content 

Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 

List of expected participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 

Latvian Official Publisher (LOP) and 

dissemination of Public Sector Information . . . . . . . . . . . 13 

Official electronic publication in “Latvijas Vēstnesis” . . . 29 

RE-use of Legislative Publications . 

Latvian Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 

Administrative Codes and Registers in 

the United States of America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 

Report from the Working Group 

“Indexing and search” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 

Working Group “Access to Legislation” 

Interim Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 

Working Group ‘Sharing experiences and best practices’ 

Economic transparency – Efficient Protection 

for Consumers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 

About Dissemination of Information to Citizens . . . . . . 105 

Sustainable development in the DILA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 

Cooperation between the legislator 

and the official publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 

Scope of an official publication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 

Security aspects of the official electronic publication . . 147 

3

5 

Riga 2011 

Eighth meeting of the European Forum 

of Official Gazettes 

Riga 

15-16 September 2011 

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION 

AS A FINAL STEP IN THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS: 

LEGAL AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS 

Programme

Thursday, 15 September 

15:00–15:30 Registration for the workshops, followed by coffee 

15:30–15:40 Official handover of the Chair 

Mr Alfonso ANDRIANI, Editor-in-Chief of the Official Gazette of the Italian 

Republic — Ministry of Justice — Chairperson of the Forum 

15:40–15:50 Greeting message 

Ms Daina ĀBELE, Head of the official publishing office of the Republic 

of Latvia ‘Latvijas Vēstnesis’ 

15:50–16:10 Welcoming address 

Mr Aigars ŠTOKENBERGS, Minister for Justice of the Republic of Latvia 

16:10–16:20 Activity report 

Mr Andrea BARTOLINI, Secretary to the Forum 

16:20–17:00 Presentation of ‘Latvijas Vēstnesis’ 

Representatives of the Latvian official publishing office 

17:00–17:30 Possibilities of re-use of official publications and experience in Latvia 

Mr Juris RETENAIS, “Netcard” ltd 

17:30–18:00 Presentation 

Mr John MARTINEZ, President of the Administrative Codes and Registers Section 

of the National Association of Secretaries of State, US; via web-streaming 

18:00 Welcome to Dinner 

Friday, 16 September 

09:30–09:45 Coffee 

09:45–09:50 Welcome to day 2 



09:50–10:20 Report from the Working Group ‘Indexing and search’ 

Mr Aleš GOLA, Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic 

10:20–10:50 Report from the Working Group ‘Access to legislation’ 

Mr John DANN, Central Legislative Service, Ministry of State, Luxembourg 

10:50–11:20 Reports from the Working Group ‘Sharing experiences and best practices’ 

— Economic transparency - Efficient Protection for Consumers 

Ms Nadja KWAPIL, Responsible for European Affairs, Wiener Zeitung, Austria 

— About Dissemination of Information to Citizens 

Mr Didier FRANçOIS, Deputy Director of Direction de l’information légale 

et administrative, France 

11:20-11:30 Sustainable development in the DILA’ 

Mr Didier FRANçOIS, Deputy Director of Direction de l’information légale 

et administrative, France 

6

11:30–12:10 Introduction to the afternoon workshops 

Mr Jānis PLEPS, Dr . iur ., Legal Adviser, Legal Service of the Saeima 

Mr Ivars BIČKOVIČS, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 

Mr Arvīds DRAVNIEKS, Senior Legal Adviser to the Ombudsman 

12:10–13:30 Lunch 

13:30–15:30 Workshop sessions 

1 . Cooperation between the legislator and the official publisher — ensuring authenticity of 

announced normative acts — technical solutions 

a . Legislative process only digital or a parallel flow of paper documents? 

b . Synergies between technical solutions of electronic legislative process and official 

electronic publication 

i . Solutions for transport of documents from the legislator to the publisher 

ii . Integrated solutions for publishing legislation (use of XML in drafting stage or 

conversion to XML before publication) 

Facilitator: Mr Søren BROBERG NIELSEN, Head of Division, Ministry of Justice, 

Department of Civil Affairs, Denmark 

2 . Scope of an official publication (what information is classified as official?) 

a . Information that has legal consequences? 

b . Or, just information for general awareness? 

c . Municipal legislative acts as a part of a country’s legal system? 

i . An object to official publication? 

ii . Financing of a municipal official publication (state, respective municipality)? 

Facilitator: Ms Carol TULLO, Director of Information Policy and Services, 

The National Archives, United Kingdom 

3 . Security aspects of the official electronic publication 

a . Ensuring continuous accessibility 

b . Ensuring trust for the user 

c . Personal data protection 

Facilitator: Mr Aki HIETANEN, Director of Information Services, Ministry of Justice, 

Finland 

15:30–16:00 Coffee 

16:00–17:00 Presentation of workshop results by the facilitators 

17:00–17:15 Information on the Ninth Forum Meeting in Malta 2012 

Ms Diane OSWALD, Assistant Director, Department of Information DOI, Malta 

Closing remarks 



Saturday, 17 September 

11:00 Social program 

Visit to Latvian Ethnographic Open-air museum, introduction to Latvian traditions 

7

9 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


List of expected participants

European Union 

Nadja Kwapil Austria 

Karl Irresberger Austria 

Bert Van Damme Belgium 

Christos Demetriades Cyprus 

Jiří Kaucký Czech Republic 

Aleš Gola Czech Republic 

Søren Broberg Nielsen Denmark 

Maret Mauer Estonia 

Eve Agur Estonia 

Jari Linhala Finland 

Aki Hietanen Finland 

Artur Borzeda France 

Didier Francois France 

Dr . Franziska Schumacher Germany 

Ralf Killian Germany 

Richard Caffrey Ireland 

Alfonso Andriani Italy 

Nando Orsini Italy 

Maurizio Quattrociocchi Italy 

Daina Ābele Latvia 

Artis Trops Latvia 

Irena Milaknytė-Šukevičienė Lithuania 

Kieffer Patricia Luxembourg 

John Dann Luxembourg 

Diane Oswald Malta 

Mark Sciberras Malta 

Hans Flier Netherlands 

Jarosław Deminet Poland 

Beata Jaszczyk Poland 

Popa Gabriel Romania 

Bolea Virgil-Marian Romania 

Roman Makara Slovak Republic 

10

Jan Svak Slovak Republic 

Špela Munih Stanič Slovenia 

Mojca Samotorčan Slovenia 

Jose Enrique Martin Arahuetes Spain 

Carol Tullo United Kingdom 

Martine Reicherts Publications Office of the EU 

Andrea Bartolini Publications Office of the EU 

Barbara Roza Publications Office of the EU 

European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Countries 

Eygló Súsanna Halldórsdóttir Iceland 

Knut Erik Davidsen Norway 

Michel Moret Switzerland 

Markus Tanner Switzerland 

EU Candidate Countries 

Sanja Perić Croatia 

Nikola Sila Croatia 

Toni Trajanov The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 

Snezana Kuzmanovska The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 

Selçuk Özcan Turkey 

Momcilo Vujosevic Montenegro 

EU Potential Candidate Countries 

Ilir Kondi Albania 

Ilir Stojku Albania 

Dragan Prusina Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Sanja Jovicic Serbia 

11

13 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


Latvian Official Publisher (LOP) 

and dissemination 

of Public Sector Information 

Daina Ābele 

VSIA 

“Latvijas Vēstnesis”

Latvian Official Publisher 

(LOP) 

and dissemination of Public 

Sector Information 

Riga · 2011 www.lv.lv 

1993 2011 

25.02.1993. 

First issue of 

“Latvijas V"stnesis” 

14 

Daina !bele 

VSIA “Latvijas V!stnesis”, CEO 

Daina.Abele@lv.lv 

and 

www.vestnesis.lv

! Founded in 1993 as state company; 

! Supervised by Ministry of Justice; 

Basic information about 

LOP 

! No money from the State’s budget, costs are covered by income 

from sales of products and publication of notices; 

! Turnover year 2010 – 3,1 million Euro; 

! Number of employees – 78; 

! ISO 9001:2000 (Quality Management Standard) certified – April, 

29 th 2004; 

! ISO/IEC 27001:2005 (IT – Security techniques – Information 

security management systems Standard) certified – October, 30 th 

2009. 

European Forum of Official Gazettes · Riga · 

2011 

15 

Mission 

Ensuring promulgation and accessibility of the 

States official information, “Latvijas V!stnesis” 

fulfils exchange of information and ideas between 

society and the State, performing development of 

civil society. 


2011 

3 

4

! Free and convenient access to law; 

Art. 90 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia 

Everyone has the right to know 

about his or her rights. 

! Wide range of options for the society to be informed 

about the core essence of the adopted legislation; 

! More options for society to impact the law-making 

process; 

! More options for lawmakers and state officials for 

receiving feedback from the society about their 

expectations and opinions. 


2011 

16 

5

Official publisher 

“Everyone has the right to know about his or her rights” Art.90 of the Constitution 

OP: normative acts and official announcements * Consolidated legislation * Explanations, opinions for stimulating legal theory 

and practice 

Till introduction of 

official e-publication 

FREE OF CHARGE : 

Functions are carried out on the basis of revenue from publication of official 

notices 

Official publisher does not receive funding form the State’s budget 

17

! Topics: Laws & 

Regulations, legal books, 

legal textbooks for 

students; 

! Internet Bookstore; 

! About 10 titles per year; 

! Small circulation (on 

average 800 copies) – 

high product cost – low 

profitability. 


2011 

Future developments and 

topics for discussion 

Official electronic gazette (currently in Parliament): 

!Security of electronic environment, reliability and 

sustainability; 

!Requirement of a printed copy; 

!Accessibility of the State’s official information: 

centralized/decentralized... 

!Status and functions of the Official publisher. 


2011 

26 

Books 

16 

17

Thank you for attention! 


Official publisher of the Republic of Latvia 

Bru"inieku 41, R#ga, Latvija 

info@lv.lv 

27

29 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


Official electronic publication 

in “Latvijas Vēstnesis” 

Artis Trops 

VSIA «Latvijas Vēstnesis», 

Project manager

Official electronic publication in 

“Latvijas Vēstnesis” 

Artis Trops 

VSIA «Latvijas Vēstnesis», 

Project manager 

Artis.Trops@lv.lv 


30 

The new portal is a frontoffice 

for the official electronic 

publication . 

Technically ready for production 

as soon as the official 

electronic publication is 

official (when the law comes 

into force) . 

Legislative acts and official 

notices are published . 

Official publication in PDF 

format . Authenticity ensured 

with a advanced electronic 

signature containing qualified 

certificate with time-stamp 

(PAdES Long Term ETSI TS 102 

778 Standard) . 

HTML version for information .

31 

Publication Process Management 

System – backoffice 

for official electronic 

publication 

1) All publication steps 

(processes) in different section, 

user rights according 

to their roles in publication 

process, some processes 

can be executed in parallel, 

however – several are step 

stone processes that can 

be executed when certain 

processes are finished 

2) Registration . Registration 

of a new document for publication, 

adding metadata 

and the respective original 

file 

3) List of documents registered 

today . 

4) If the registered document 

is not a final version, a 

check box must be clicked 

to indicate that the original 

has not been received yet . 

Waiting for the original 

version of the registered 

documents 

1) Till received the document 

is on hold - no other 

processes can be initiated 

2) List of documents waiting 

for original version - received 

automatically from 

external systems

32 

Planning of content of the 

issue 

1) Documents without an 

issue assigned to them . In red 

colour – documents with approaching 

publication date . 

2) Documents with issue 

assigned . 

3) Dropdown list of registered 

issues for assignment . 

4) Section within the Official 

gazette – determined automatically 

based on authority 

and type . 

Correction – preparation of 

text according to publication 

style guidelines 

1) Documents for correction 

2) List of documents with 

correction finished 

3) Here and everywhere else 

in the system – as an indicator 

that a step stone process 

has been initiated and must 

be cancelled in order to 

perform modifications .

33 

Upload of corrected document 

Addition of extra metadata 

for likumi .lv legislative 

portal of systematized and 

consolidated legislative 

acts

34 

Layout designing 

1) Documents with assigned 

issue 

2) Documents without an 

issue assigned 

Layout designing 

1) Designer shall indicate 

when he begins work with 

the particular document so 

no other designer starts to 

work with the same document 

2) Addition of PDF and HTML 

files . Shall indicate when the 

work has finished – for each 

file type separately so that 

other processes can start as 

soon as the layout design is 

ready of the particular document 

file format .

35 

Quality control of layout 

designs 

1) Icons indicate the finished 

layout designs of particular 

document file formats 

Quality control of layout 

designs 

Comparison of the produced 

file with the original 

received .

36 

Confirmation of planned 

issues 

Can be confirmed once both 

HTML and PDF file versions 

are finished for documents 

of the particular issue . A possibility 

to re-arrange documents 

within the issue . 

Serves a status overview panel 

of all issues for publication 

– editor in chief can monitor 

the progress o work . 

An issue can be cancelled 

– as long as it has not been 

published yet . 

Quality control of performance 

of automated 

processes – scripts adding 

headers, footers, page 

numbers, meta-data, etc . To 

PDF files 

1) In case of an error there is 

possibility to add a manually 

generated file

37 

Electronic signing 

1) Signing in bach-process is 

possible once all the documents 

planned for an issue 

are ready . Ability to verify the 

electronic signatures . 

E-signature verification 

results

39 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


Re-use of Legislative Publications 

Latvian Experience 

Juris Retenais 

“Netcard” ltd

Agenda 

Re-use of Legislative 

Publications 

Latvian Experience 

Juris Retenais 

EU Forum of Official Gazettes 

Riga, September 15, 2011 

• E-publishing of Latvian Legislation 

• Re-use of Legislative Publications 

• Re-use by private sector 

• Improvements of Legislative Publications 

• Questions & Answers 

40

E-publishing of Latvian 

Legislation Today 

• likumi.lv = e-version of official (paper) 

publication 

• Maintained by government enterprise Latvijas 

Vēstnesis (LV) 

• Publishes consolidated legislative acts and 

historic and future versions of consolidated acts 

• Current version of LP “on top“ 

• Free of charge 

History of Legislative E-publishing 

before Crisis 

• nais.lv, privately owned database 

• 1st version built in 1991 

• Publishings obtained in electronic (Word ) form 

directly from Legislative institutions 

• Pay for subscription or per document 

• No other options 

• Quite expensive to cover all public sector 

needs (1000+ institutions) 

41

Re-use of Legislative Publications 

• Anybody can reuse with reference to source 

• Governmental institutions: 

• re-publish on their web-sites 

• Publish links to likumi.lv 

• Private Sector 

• Privately owned legislative databases 

• Re-publish on their web-sites 

• Publish links to likumi.lv 

Re-use by private sector 

• Privately owned legislative databases: 

• Nais.lv 

• Has contract with Official Publisher 

• Has on-line data exchange channel (pay per document) 

• Has free public version with simple functionality 

• Subscription fee for extended functionality, e.g. search 

• Maintains current information 

• e-likumi.lv 

• No agreement with Official Publisher 

• Supports core business of printing law collections 

• Pay per document, except latest 2 months of Parliament 

& Council of Ministers documents 

• Publishing delayed 

42

Re-use by private sector (cont.) 

• latlex.lv 

• No agreement with Official Publisher 

• LPs free, but formatting primitive 

• Added value: internal and external navigation to direct 

references, links to court rulings (pay per document) 

• Publishing delayed 

• l2d.lv 

• Has agreement with Official Publisher 

• Downloads LPs from likumi.lv (no effort on LV part) 

• Added value: internal navigation, external navigation based 

on key-words & -phrases , EuroVoc 

• Maintains current information (Currently free) 

Improvements of Legislative 

Publications by L2D.LV 

• L2D.LV is abbreviation of Legislation in 2 Dimensions 

• Goal: make LPs easy to read & save time 

• Internal navigation (reference to Articles, clauses) 

• Direct external navigation (laws by name, EU 

directives by number) 

• External navigation by key-words/-phrases 

• Using EuroVoc 

• Subscription to RSS 

• Improve quality of legislative publications 

43

Live DEMO of www.l2d.lv 

• Currently Latvian 

• Prototype in English 

• Customizable to other languages 

L2D Links to Related Documents 

• Fragment from Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction 

of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at 

work with links 

44

L2D List to Related Documents 



work with links 

L2D Full List to Related Doc-ts 



work with links and full searchable list of related documents 

45

L2D Auto-detection & Links 

Fragment from Latvian Labour Law 

L2D Internal Navigation Links 

Fragment from Latvian Labour Law 

46

L2D Using EuroVoc Thesaurus 

• Search in your language, get results for Latvia 

L2D Using EuroVoc Thesaurus (cont.) 

• Google Translate the list of documents 

• Open the document you are interested in 

• Copy the link and feed it to Google Translate 

47

Questions & Answers 

Contacts 

Juris Retenais, PMP 

Netcards SIA 

Thank you for your attention! 

5 Visbijas prospekts, Riga, Latvia, LV-1014 

juris.retenais@netcard.lv 

+371 6738 7748 

48

51 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


Administrative Codes and Registers 

in theUnited States of America 

John Hyrum Martinez 

Administrative Codes & Registers 

President


in the 

United States of America 


Administrative Codes & Registers President 

• Federation of 

– 50 States 

– 1 District 

– 2 Commonwealths 

– 3 Territories 

USA 

• The States are sovereign in their own right 

and can make their own laws 

• 3-branch government model 

– Legislative 

– Executive 

– Judicial 

52

Administrative Rules 

• Legislative branch can authorize the 

Executive branch to make specific laws 

• Laws made by Executive branch frequently 

called administrative rules or regulations 

• Most states have a Register to publically 

announce new and amended rules (and 

other material) 

• The Registers are similar to Gazettes 

• Most states have an administrative code 

which is the compilation of current rules 

ACR 

• Administrative Codes and Registers Section 

• ACR is the organization of the writers, 

publishers and reviewers of administrative 

rules in the USA 

• Private organization (not part of the 

government) 

• Founded in 1978 

• Section of the National Association of 

Secretaries of State (NASS) 

53

ACR Membership 

• Membership open to employees of state and 

federal governments 

– Rule publishers 

– Rule reviewers 

– Rule writers 

– Any others who work with administrative rules 

• Corporate members include vendors who 

also publish administrative rules 

• Rule publishing in 26 of the states is under 

the Secretary of State 

NASS 

• National Association of Secretaries of State 

• Founded in 1904 

• Secretaries of State or Lt. Governors for all 

the states and territories 

• 2 additional sections 

– Administrative Codes and Registers 

– Notary Public Administrators 

• www.nass.org 

• NASS provides staff support for ACR 

54

ACR Mission 

• To gather, exchange and disseminate information 

and ideas that relate to the publication and 

distribution of administrative codes and registers 

• To enhance the quality of administrative codes and 

registers through better style, format and design 

• To encourage the development of administrative 

codes and registers in jurisdictions where none exist 

• To foster the development of better rule writing 

skills and rule review techniques, and more effective 

management of the rule promulgation process 

• To increase knowledge of administrative law among 

ACR Section members and within the general 

public 

Issues 

• Maintaining integrity of registers and 

administrative codes 

• Establishing best practices for managing all 

types of records 

• Authenticating digital documents 

• Adopting model administrative procedures 

• Enhancing user access to rules 

• Improving rule writing and review 

• Increasing awareness of registers and 

administrative codes 

55

Colborn Award 

• The Colborn Award annually recognizes a 

program that demonstrates creativity and 

innovation in managing or providing public 

access to administrative rules 

• 2011 – Florida – Hyperlinked incorporated 

material 

• 2010 – New Mexico – Online rules training 

• 2009 – Virginia – Coordinated online 

administrative code 

• 2008 – Arkansas – Rules cataloging and archiving 

State and Federal Survey 

• ACR surveys state and federal governments 

about the publication of administrative rules 

• Survey made every two years 

• Compilation of information about 

administrative rules publications in the 

United States and its jurisdictions 

• Charge of $40 for current survey 

• Past surveys available on website free of 

charge 

56

Winter Meetings 

• Held in Washington, DC during February 

• Held with the Secretaries and NPA 

• ACR has separate meetings but joint meals 

and activities with the Secretaries and NPA 

• 3 to 4 days of meetings 

Summer Conferences 

• Held during July 

• Changes location every year – hosted by a 

specific Secretary of State 

• Held with the Secretaries and NPA 

• ACR has separate meetings but joint meals 

and activities with the Secretaries and NPA 

• 3 to 4 days of meetings 

• Colborn Award is presented 

• Officers are elected every other year 

57

Online Conferencing 

• Due to budget constraints fewer members 

are attending the meetings and conferences 

• 2011 ACR Winter Meeting was held online 

• Portions of the 2011 ACR Summer 

Conference were available online 

• Will continue to use online conferencing in 

the future 

ListServ 

• Automated E-mail system 

• Subscribers automatically receive all new 

postings made to the list 

• Responses can go to the entire group or just 

to the original sender 

• Tailored to those working primarily with 


• To subscribe, send an e-mail message to 

join-acr@list.utah.gov 

58

ACR Website 

• www.administrativerules.org 

• List of Administrative Codes and Registers 

available online 

• Materials from past meetings and 

conferences 

• Past State and Federal Surveys 

• Contact information 

Questions 

Are there any questions? 


New Mexico State Records Center and Archives 

1205 Camino Carlos Rey 

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507 

john.martinez4@state.nm.us 

59

61 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


Report from the Working Group 

“Indexing and search” 

Mr Aleš GOLA, 

Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&+-(&.*'/"#0& 

0'*1)&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-& 

7+-&8((9#0&*,&:1'*)($#&!*'18&*,&;

N('8@&*,&'(,('(#6( &FOF& 

•! 6*8)'(-(#@"R(&'(@($'6-&*#&61''(#+&)'$696(@&*,& 

"#3(4"#0&Z&@($'6-&8(+-*3@&$#3&([*'+@& 

•! 3(+('8"#(&E(@+&)'$696(@&$#3&+(6-#*%*0"(@&+-$+&6$#& 

"8)'*R(&$66(@@&+*&3*618(#+@&SV"+-&"#3(4"#0&$#3& 

@($'6-&$+&,*61@U& 

•! -"0-%"0-+&)'$696(@&V-"6-&$'(&8*@+&E(#(\9$E%(&,*'& 

1@('@&$#3&(6*#*8"6$%%J&@1@+$"#$E%(& 

AWX&&YX&&FGAA& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

^(8E('@& 

•! _-$"'K&^'X&L%(M&=*%$&S_>(6-&I()1E%"6U& 

•! 5(6'(+$'JK&^'X&`*%0('&a$0*%$&Sb1E%"6$9*#&;(6-&I()1E%"6& 

–! c(#8$'/& 

–! :@+*#"$& 

–! =('8$#J& 

–! !dI&^$6(3*#"$& 

–! b*%$#3& 

–! b1E%"6$9*#&;

•! ^((9#0@K&& 

^((9#0@& 

•! AYX&$#3&FGX&^$'6-&FGGY&ST14(8E1'0U& 

•! F7X&$#3&FYX&L)'"%&FGGY&Sb'$-$U& 

•! FGX&$#3&FAX&L)'"%&FGAG&ST14(8E*1'0U& 

•! ABX&$#3&AWX&g1#(&FGAG&ST14(8E*1'0U& 

•! ADX&$#3&A7X&^$J&FGAA&Sb'$-$U& 

•! ABX&$#3&AWX&g1#(&FGAA&Sb'$-$U& 

•! c*618(#+@&,'*8&+-(&8((9#0@&$R$"%$E%(&*#&_"'6$&V(E@"+(& 


•! L69R"+"(@K& 


!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

^((9#0@& 

•! )'()$'$9*#&*,&+-(&h1(@9*##$"'(&$#3&(R$%1$9*#&*,&"+@& 

'(@1%+@& 

•! )'(@(#+$9*#@&*,&#$9*#$%&)'$696(@& 

•! 3"@61@@"*#&*#&$3R$#+$0(@&$#3&3"@$3R$#+$0(@&*,&)$'961%$'& 

,1#69*#$%"9(@&$#3&+(6-#*%*0"(@& 

•! )'()$'$9*#&*,&+-(&!"#$%&'()*'+&$#3&+-(&=1"3(&+*& 

"8)'*R(8(#+@&+*&@($'6-&,$6"%"9(@& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

64 

B& 

W&

i1(@9*##$"'( &AOF& 

•! +-(&h1(@9*##$"'(&"@&E$@(3&*#&6*8)%(4&$))'*$6-&C& 

@($'6-&$#3&"#3(4"#0&$%*#0&V"+-&*+-('&+(6-#*%*0"(@& 

$#3&8($#@&*,&$66(@@&+*&T25& 

•! .=&3(6"3(3&+*&1@(&*#%"#(&h1(@9*##$"'(&& 

•! W7&h1(@9*#@&3"R"3(3&"#+*&+-'((&@(69*#@K&2#3(4"#0H& 

5($'6-&$#3&_*88*#&h1(@9*#@&& 


!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

i1(@9*##$"'( &FOF& 

•! 3"@@(8"#$+(3&+*&]Y&!*'18&8(8E('@&$#3&6**)('$9#0& 

6*1#+'"(@&*#&AD&^$J&FGAG& 

•! '(@1%+@&)'(@(#+(3&"#&+-(&2#+('"8&'()*'+&*,&+-(& 

V*'/"#0&0'*1)&"#&I*8(&FGAG& 

•! +-(&h1(@9*##$"'(&&'(@1%+@&)'*R"3(3&+-(&)*@@"E"%"+J&+*& 

,*61@&*#&)'*8"@"#0&+(6-#*%*0"(@&$#3&,1#69*#$%"9(@&& 

$#3&+-("'&)'('(h1"@"+(@X& 


!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

65 

D& 

7&


I(@1%+@& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

T(0"@%$9R(&3*618(#+@ && 

•! *

e@('@&AOF& 

•! 0**3&$V$'(#(@@&*,&1@('&0'*1)@&$#3&+-("'&#((3@H&+V*& 

"8)*'+$#+&0'*1)@&*,&1@('@&'(R($%(3K& 

•! b'*,(@@"*#$%&1@('@&C&+-("'&#((3@&$'(&V"+-"#&+-(&)*@@"E"%"9(@& 

*,&61''(#+&@J@+(8@& 

•! =(#('$%&1@('@&S6*88*#&6"9>(#@U&C&3(8$#3&,*'&@('R"6(@& 

+-$+&V"%%&-(%)&+-(8&+*&*R('6*8(&+-(&%$6/&*,&%(0$%& 

/#*V%(30(H&6-$%%(#0(&,*'&%(0$%&"#,*'8$9*#&@J@+(8@& 

•! "#,*'8$9*#&*#&+-(&8"@@"*#&*,&+-(&*"#0&"+@& 

@J@+(8@&& 

•! 6*%%(69*#&*,&,((3E$6/&-$@&"8)%"6$9*#@&*#&)'"R$6J& 

$#3&+-(&8"@@"*#&*,&+-(&)1E%"6$9*#&*

5($'6-&"#+(',$6(& 

•! F&)'*8"#(#+&+J)(@K& 

•! !"#!$%&"'(&!)%*'C&)$'$8(96&@($'6-&,*'&)'*[(@"*#$%&1@('@& 

•! (+,-.&'(&!)%*'C&'(P(6+@&0'*V"#0&3(8$#3&*,&0(#('$%&1@('@H& 

6$##*+&E(&&@$9@\(3&EJ&*+-('&@($'6-&,$6"%"9(@& 

•! 6*#6()+&*,&*#(&P(4"E%(&"#+(',$6(&,$6"%"+$+(@&+-(& 

(

!1%%+(4+&"#3(4&$#3&h1('J&FOF& 

•! 3J#$8"6&@($'6-&-(%)&+*&1@('@&$#3&$&V$J&-*V&+*& 

"#6'($@(&([(69R(#(@@&*,&V*'/&V"+-&@($'6-&,$6"%"9(@& 

*,&+-(&*

:@+$E%"@-"#0&'(%(R$#6(&FOF& 

•! )'('(h1"@"+(@K& 

•! )*@@"E"%"+J&+*&$3$)+&'(%(R$#6J&8(6-$#"@8@& 

•! $R$"%$E"%"+J&*,&6*8)%(4&%(0$%&8(+$3$+$&3(@6'"E"#0&+-(& 

3*618(#+@&$#3&+-("'&6*#+(#+@& 

•! '(@1%9#0&6*8)%(4&@J@+(8&*,&6'"+('"$&'(h1"'(@&6$'(,1%& 

(@+$E%"@-"#0&*,&+-(&V("0-+&*,&$%%&"#6%13(3&6'"+('"$& 

•! 8$J&E(&'(0$'3(3&$@&#*+&+'$#@)$'(#+&+*&$&1@('&SL1@+'"$U& 

•! c(#8$'/&C&$&1@($E%(&'(@1%+&6$#&E(&$6-"(R(3&(R(#& 

V"+-&#*#k@)(6"$%">(3&@($'6-&(#0"#(@& 


!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

c"@)%$J"#0&@($'6-&'(@1%+@& 

•! 1@1$%&6'"+('"*#&"@&+-(&'(%(R$#6(&*,&3*618(#+@H&8$J&E(& 

@*'+(3&$66*'3"#0&+*&*+-('&@(%(6+(3&8(+$3$+$& 

•! 1@(,1%&+*&$%%*V&@*'9#0&$66*'3"#0&+*&$R$"%$E%(&6'"+('"$& 

•! .=&,*1#3&1@(,1%&+*&$%%*V&+-(&1@('&+*&$33&$33"9*#$%& 

@($'6-&6'"+('"$&$Q('&+-(&"#"9$%&@($'6-&"@&6*#316+(3&+*& 

'(\#(&+-(&@($'6-&'(@1%+@& 

•! !$6(+(3&@($'6-&&k&'(@1%+@&3"@)%$J(3&V"+-&$33"9*#$%& 

@*'9#0&$%*#0&V"+-&@(%(6+(3&8(+$3$+$&S/(JV*'3@&(+6XU& 

•! 1@(,1%&,*'&$%%&1@('@H&)$'961%$'%J&,*'&0(#('$%&1@('@& 


!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

70 

AD& 

A7&

L3m1@9#0&+-(&@($'6-& 

•! 61@+*8">$9*#&k&$&V$J&+*&8*'(&([(69R(&V*'/&V"+-& 

+-(&*

^(+$3$+$ & &AOf& 

•! )*@@"E"%"+J&*,&@($'6-&"#&%$'0(&(4+(#+&3()(#3@&*#& 

8(+$3$+$& 

•! '(%(R$#+&@($'6-H&h1('J&@100(@9*#H&,$6(+(3&@($'6-H&$3R$#6(& 

@($'6-H&-*'">*#+$%&@($'6-&EJ&*+-('&@($'6-&(#0"#(@& 

•! '"6-#(@@H&@+$#3$'3"@$9*#H&@+'16+1'"#0&$#3&h1$%"+J& 

•! @+'16+1'$%&8(+$3$+$& 

•! 0**3&S$#3&0'*V"#0U&$V$'(#(@@&+*&+-(&"8)*'+$#6(&*,& 

+-(&3(@6'")9*#&*,&3*618(#+@&EJ&8$'/k1)&%$#01$0(@& 

•! @()$'$+(&"#3(4"#0&*,&)$'+@H&1@(&*,&9+%(@&,*'&'(%(R$#6J&$#3& 

h1('J&@100(@9*#& 


!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

^(+$3$+$ & &FOf& 

•! 8*@+&*,&+-(&)1E%"6$9*#&*

^(+$3$+$ & &]Of& 

•! :e&C&6*8)%(4&+'$#@,*'8$9*#&)'*0'$8&"#6%13"#0& 

8(+$3$+$&8$#$0(8(#+H&h1$%"+J&$#3&"#+('6-$#0($E"%"+J& 

•! 8(+$3$+$&*'0$#">$9*#&E$@(3&*#&)'*0'(@@"R(&@6-(8(@& 

S!IaIU&$#3&1@(&*,&@(8$#96&V(E&+(6-#*%*0"(@& 

•! 8(+$3$+$&'(0"@+'J&C&8($#@&*,&8$"#+$"#"#0&+-(&h1$%"+J&*,& 

8(+$3$+$& 


•! "#6%13"#0&8(+$3$+$&R$%1(@&#*'8$%">$9*#&V-"6-&"@&'(1@($E%(& 

,*'&+-(&)1E%"6$9*#&*

2#3(4"#0&EJ&/(JV*'3@& &AO7& 

•! "#3(4"#0&+**%@&)'*R"3(K& 


•! (@+$E%"@-"#0&'(%(R$#6(H&h1('J&@100(@9*#H&,$6(+(3&@($'6-& 

S:e&k&s(V&:1'T(4UH&$66(@@"E%(&+*&3*618(#+@&*'&E'*V@"#0& 

FG& 

AB& 

AG& 

B& 

G& 

3*#t+&1@(& 

"#+('#$%&3*618(#+& 

*'0$#"@$9*#& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

74 

"8)'*R"#0&"#,*'8$9*#& 

'(+'"(R$%& 

2#3(4"#0&EJ&/(JV*'3@& & &FO7& 

•! 8*@+&,'(h1(#+&+**%&1@(3&"#&"#3(4"#0&3*618(#+@& 

"@&$&%(0$6J&"#3(4&*,&+-(&*

2#3(4"#0&EJ&/(JV*'3@& &]O7& 

•! :1'*l*6&C&$&1#"h1(&+**%&V"+-&3"'(6+&6*##(69*#&+*&+-(& 

:1'*)($#&e#"*#&$#3&+-(&%$V&*,&+-(&:1'*)($#&e#"*#& 

•! FF&%$#01$0(@&$#3&W&DYD&6*#6()+@& 

•! #(V&R('@"*#&*,&:1'*l*6&"@&E$@(3&*#&@(8$#96& 

+(6-#*%*0"(@H&$%%*V@&"#+('*)('$E"%"+J&$#3&'(k1@(& 

•! N-(@$1'"&$%"0#8(#+&(#R"'*8(#+&C&)*@@"E"%"+J&+*&"#+('6*##(6+& 

:1'*l*6&V"+-&@)(6"$%">(3&+-(@$1'"&S@16-&$@&%(0$%U& 

•! e@(K& 

•! 5)$"#&k&81%9%"#01$%&"#3(4"#0&+**%&"#&6*8E"#$9*#&V"+-& 

3(3"6$+(3&%(0$%&+-(@$1'"& 


!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

2#3(4"#0&EJ&/(JV*'3@& & &fO7& 

•! 5%*R$/"$&C&'(\#"#0&'(%$9*#@&E(+V((#&3(@6'")+*'@&+*& 

6*#@+'1(&,$6(+(3&@($'6-&)*@@"E"%"+J& 

•! $1+*8$+(3&"#3(4"#0&+**%@& 

•! :1'*l*6&k&T"8"+@K& 


•! 0$)@&"#&@)(6"\6&$'($@&*,&%(0$%&+('8"#*%*0J& 

•! "8)%(8(#+$9*#&(4)(#@"R(&V-"%(&'(%$9R(%J&@8$%%& 

"8)'*R(8(#+&*,&@($'6-&'(@1%+@&SejU& 

•! %"8"+(3&3(8$#3&,'*8&1@('@&SejU&& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

75 

FD& 

F7&

2#3(4"#0&EJ&/(JV*'3@& &WO7& 

•! (6*#*8"6$%&'($@*#@&%($3&@(R('$%&)1E%"6$9*#&*

2#3(4"#0&EJ&/(JV*'3@& &DO7& 

•! g*"#+&'(@('$'6-&6(#+'(&*,&+-(&:eK& 

•! $1+*8$+(3&)'(k"#3(4"#0&+*&$@@"@+&-18$#&"#3(4('@&"#& 

$@@*6"$9#0&*,&:1'*R*6&+('8@& 

•! 8(+-*3*%*0J&*,&+-(&@J@+(8&"@&E$@(3&*#&@+$9@96@&$#3& 

%(4"6*8(+'J&(4+'$69#0&'1%(@&,'*8&'(@1%+@&*,&-18$#& 

"#3(4('@& 

•! "#3(4"#0&"#&FF&%$#01$0(@& 

•! 1@('&u1@+*8">$9*#H&+('8&$33"#0H&,'((&*,&6-$'0(& 

•! *+-('&)'*m(6+@&k&a*@#"$&"&`('>(0*R"#$H&_'*$9$H& 

b1E%"6$9*#&*

5(8$#96&V(E&+(6-#*%*0J & &AOf& 

•! 0*$%&k&+-(&V(E&*,&3$+$&+-$+&$'(&3(()%J&@+'16+1'(3H& 

@-$'(3H&$1+*8$96$%%J&'(1@(3&$6'*@@&$))%"6$9*#&$#3& 

($@"%J&'(+'"(R(3& 

•! R"@"*#&*,&@(8$#96&@($'6-&C&@($'6-&h1('"(@&"#&#$+1'$%& 

%$#01$0(& 


AB& 

AG& 

B& 

G& 

d(@& 

s*+&J(+H&E1+& 

)%$##(3& s*& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

5(8$#96&V(E&+(6-#*%*0J & &FOf& 

•! %"8"+@&"#&@(8$#96&V(E&+(6-#*%*0"(@K& 

•! 6'($9#0&@(8$#96&8$'/k1)&"@&6*@+%J&& 

•! R$01(#(@@&*,&0(#('$%&%$#01$0(&6*#6()+@& 

•! 3"

5(8$#96&V(E&+(6-#*%*0J & &]Of& 

•! :4$8)%(@K& 


•! ej&C&$&6*8)%(4&@(+&*,&eI2&"3(#9\('@H&@+'16+1'"#0&*,& 

8(+$3$+&*#&%(0$%&3*618(#+@&& 

•! :e&C&:1'*R*6H&8(+$3$+$&R*6$E1%$'"(@H&*#+*%*0"(@&,*'&& 

8(+$3$+$&(#99(@&$#3&E"E%"*0'$)-"6&'(6*'3@&& 

•! 5V(3(#&k&@+'16+1'(&*,&3*618(#+@H&8(+$3$+$&@(+H&1@(&*,&eI2& 

,*'&-J)('%"#/"#0&& 

•! 5%*R$/"$&C&N*)"6&^$)@&,*'&3(@6'")9*#&*,&+-(&6*#+(#+&$#3& 

+('8"#*%*0J&*,&%(0$%&3*618(#+@&& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

5(8$#96&V(E&+(6-#*%*0J & &fOf& 

•! /(J&$'($&"@&$&1#"h1(&"3(#9\6$9*#&*,&3*618(#+@&$#3& 

8(+$3$+$K& 

•! "3(#9\6$9*#&*,&3*618(#+@&$#3&@+'16+1'(@H&'(,('(#6"#0H& 

*'0$#"@$9*#&*,&8(+$3$+$&$#3&/#*V%(30(&$#3& 

"#+('6-$#0($E"%"+J&*,&"#,*'8$9*#& 

•! ,1%%J&@(8$#96&*

=1"3(&+*&@($'6-&,$6"%"9(@&&AOF& 

•! +-(&V*'/"#0&0'*1)& 

•! 6*%%(6+(3&%$'0(&$8*1#+&*,&"#,*'8$9*#&*#&E*+-&)*@"9R(&$#3& 

#(0$9R(&$@)(6+@&*,&+(6-#*%*0"(@&6*#6('#"#0&@($'6-& 

•! $%@*&"3(#9\(3&@1E@+$#9$%&3"[('(#6(@&$8*#0&+-(&)1E%"6$9*#& 

*

!"#$%&6*#6%1@"*# &@&&&AOF& 

•! "#3(4"#0&$#3&@($'6-&"@&$#&$@)(6+&*,&0(#('$%&6*#6()+& 

*,&$66(@@&+*&*



_-$"'K& 

$%(@X0*%$v8R6'X6>& 

5(6'(+$'JK& 

-*%0('XE$0*%$v)1E%"6$9*#@X(1'*)$X(1& 

.=&3*618(#+@K& 

$66(@@$E%(&$+&_"'6$&V(E@"+(& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

N-$#/&J*1&,*'&J*1'&$?(#9*#w&& 

d*1'&h1(@9*#@x& 

!"#$%&'()*'+&*,&2#3(4"#0&$#3&5($'6-&V*'/"#0& 

0'*1)& 

82 

fA& 

fF&

85 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


Working Group 

“Access to Legislation” 

Interim Report 

Mr John DANN 

Central Legislative Service, Ministry of State, Luxembourg

I. Members 

Mr John Dann (Chairperson of the WG, Luxembourg) 

Ms Nadja Kwapil (Austria) 

Mr Bert Van Damme (Belgium) 

Mr Wilfried Verrezen (Belgium) 

Mr Ostap Graljuk (Croatia) 

Mr Ale Gola (Czech Republic) 

Ms Nina Koch (Denmark) 

Mr Søren Broberg Nielsen (Denmark) 

Mr Aki Hietanen (Finland) 

Mr Philippe Gibon (France) 

Mr Ralf Killian (Germany) 

Mr Maurizio Quattrociocchi (Italy) 

Mr Nando Orsini (Italy) 

Mr Artis Trops (Latvia) 

Ms Diane Oswald (Malta) 

Mr Odd Storm-Paulsen (Norway) 

Mr Gabriel Popa (Romania) 

Ms Sanja Jovicic (Serbia) 

Ms Irina Tomic (Serbia) 

Ms Petra kodlar (Slovenia) 

Ms Ana Herrero-Botas (Spain) 

Mr Cemal Karatas (Turkey) 

Mr Faruk Sabah (Turkey) 

Mr Norman Hodgett (United Kingdom) 

Ms Judith Riley (United Kingdom) 

Ms Leda Bargiotti (Secretariat of the WG, Publications Office) 

II. Meetings 

• Brussels 25 th May 2011 

• Luxembourg 19 th July 2011 

86

III. Mandate 

Sharing information, knowledge and collaboration are the main topics of the Working Group 

(WG) . Given the large mandate of this WG, it is important that the WG concentrates on major 

subjects this year, choose topics which can be delivered in a given timeframe and develop other 

topics at a later stage . 

To reach this goal the cooperation with the other WG is of high importance . 

Mandate adopted in Brussels: 

1 . This Working Group (WG) shall act as a ‘Front Desk’ and the other WG, with specific 

detailed tasks, could act as the ‘Back Office’: 

• Share the on-going and finished results of the specialised WG and try to 

bring all the work together . 

• Share the on-going specialised work at the Publications Office. 

2 . EU regulations impacting our business of ‘Legal Gazettes’: 

• Follow legislative work and developments of the European Union’s (EU) 

activities impacting the business of the national “Legal Gazettes”, and keep 

the participants up to date; 

• Study by the Publications Office (PO) on the impact of privacy developments 

at the EU level with regard to dissemination of legal information; 

• Gather best practices on privacy issues in Member States. 

3 . Access for general public and legal experts: Challenge to satisfy both partners: 

• How to get law closer to the general public; 

• Work closely with the WG on “Indexing and Search”. 

4 . State of play for electronic versus paper version, and the consequences of free 

access to legislation on the Internet, can we uphold access rights for the ‘non- 

Internet’ public? 

• Share best practices and identify “best arguments” to shift from the paper to 

the electronic format of legal information . 

5 . Thoughts on future technologies and especially on: 

• Web 3.0. 

• How to simplify the Official Journal’s websites. 

• “e-Codes”: efforts to make our codes read better in different environments. 

• How mobility will change the use of online services: 

Will mobile access be one of the solutions for remote regions with 

lack of broadband connections? 

Will this technology (use of smartphones …) broaden and facilitate 

the outreach of our legal systems to other users, experts in the fields 

etc .? 

6 . Share best practises on how to help ‘developing countries’ (at the bilateral level) to 

improve their ‘Legal Official Gazettes’ websites . 

87

IV. The major topics discussed 

The WG will follow the legislative work and developments of the European Union (EU) activities 

impacting the business of the national “Legal Gazettes” . 

The following concrete actions have been foreseen for this year’s WG: 

a) Create a newsletter aiming at keeping the participants up to date regarding 

relevant EU legislation or projects, alternatively to provide information on the 

OJ Forum’s website; 

b) Publications Office (PO) will carry out a study on the impact of privacy 

developments at the EU level with regard to dissemination of legal information; 

c) Share best practices on privacy issues in Member States . Members will provide 

all necessary information to the PO, which will centralize and disseminate the 

information received on the Forum’s website . 

Another important topic has been identified, and given its importance it has been decided to 

highlight it: the “Semantic Web” . 

The “Semantic Web”, “WEB 3 .0” or “Web of connectable data”, is designed for both human and 

machine readable and facilitates machines to understand the meaning of information . It goes 

further than the actual “Web of documents with hyperlinks” by enabling machine-readable 

metadata with descriptions about their meaning and relations between objects, facilitating 

inter-domain information sharing and encouraging data to be distributed in reusable and 

interoperable/open formats . 

The aim is to put “users” in the front row with easy and free access to Governments’ Legal Gazettes 

“raw data”, able them to download, analyse, interconnect different information and sources 

across domains and also enable private companies to build programs, to perform tasks on 

behalf of users, and interrogate intelligently legislative databases . The Semantic Web presents an 

opportunity to enable the public to scrutinize more effectively our democratic systems, as well as 

increasing Governments’ transparency, accountability and efficiency . 

The basic building blocks of the “Semantic Web” are common Metadata, unique URI and URL, and 

different techniques like HTTP data access, “RDF” (Resource Description Framework) . “RDFS” (RDF 

Scheme) and “OWL” (Web Ontology Language) can be used to define contextual relationship 

between objects and connect them . “SPARQL” can be used to query across domain data . The 

technologies exist already and are used in various contexts and are largely standardised, W3C 

specifications, and ready to use . 

The goal of this WG is to provide a framework for common data structure indispensable for the 

“Semantic Web” and consistent across “Legal Gazettes” . In this respect it is important to share 

the information on a “strategic level” of the most advanced projects . A first meeting had been 

organized in Luxembourg on July 19 th 2011 . 

88

The group focused on: 

1 . Common Metadata structure: 

• Annexe 1, as amended after the July’s meeting, proposes a common metadata set 

(bold are the mandatory fields) . 

2 . Differentiable Unique Resource Identifiers (URI) to identify each legislative object: 

• Each object needs a name or unique reference in order for others to refer to it. 

Following the discussion at the July’s meeting, it has been agreed to draft a new, 

more complex, modelling scheme will for the WG’s next meeting, taking into 

account a significant levels of hierarchy . 

3 . Unique http URL for each legislative act: 

• It has been agreed by the WG to draft a new proposition, based on the new URI 

modelling scheme for the WG’s next meeting . 

V. Action points 

• Proposition to intensify the work this year of the WG “Access to Legislation” on 

“Semantic Web’s Back-office” (common data structure: Metadata – URI -URL) with 

the aim to introduce a “European Legislative Identifier” 1 (ELI), and a minimum set of 

uniform metadata to standardize our legal databases and make sure they are ready 

for Web 3 .0 (see Annexes) . 

• Proposition on how to integrate the new data structure (micro formats …); 

• Analyse the possibility of a Project “vocabulary + authority tables + ontology”. 

A consistent collection of a vocabulary with the same meaning across all “Legal 

Gazettes” would be a necessary step to interconnect all data . The basis of this 

project would be “Eurovoc” . 

• Concentrate on the “Front-Desk” (Users) aspects next year. 

1 Based on the initiative for an ECLI identifier (“European Case Law Identifier” see Council conclusions inviting the introduction of 

the European Case Law identifier) 

89

VI. Annexes 

Common Metadata 

Comments 

ECLI 

Reference 

ECLI 

Full taxonomy to 

be established, 

input needed . to be 

discussed 

dcterms: 

type 

European Legislation Identifier (ELI) 

Field 

eGov Share Reference 

Field Name Description 

Cardinality Data type Examples 

identifier 

Ontology 

Legal resource (language independent) 

Any type of legal resource published in an Official Journal at the work leve 

The identifier of the legal id_ 

1 . .* string To be standardised . (not distinguished 

Unique 

resource . Schema needs to document 

from the manifestation 

Identifier 

be developed 

identifier) 

The identifier of the legal id_local 0 . .* string Act’s reference in Luxembourg: 

resource in a local reference 

the EU’s, country’s 1234 

Local identifier system 

or region’s own COM (2001) 006, 

terminology, e .g . 32011L0012 

celex id, com id 

The type of a legal resource type_ 1 string For European law 

(class in ontology 

(e .g . directive, règlement document 

based on authority 

/ resource type 

grand ducale, law, règlement 

table: 

taxonomy) 

ministère, Draft Propostion 

Resource types = class 

Type of 

etc, Parliamentary act . . . . .) 

names in the OP’s 

legislation 

Common Data Model 

(CDM) . For national 

and regional laws to 

be studied in more 

detail 

Area that this legal resource relevant_ 0 . .* unit_ 

individual 

is applicable for (e .g EU, for 

administrative administritive units, 

Area of 

country / member state, 

taxonomy of possible 

is-relevantapplicability 

region . . . .) 

values to be defined . 

for 

90 

Use NUTS 

nomenclature, level 1 

http://europa . 

eu/legislation_ 

summaries/regional_ 

policy/management/ 

g24218_en .htm 

dcterms: 

coverage 

dcterms: 

creator 

European 

Parliament, 

Luxembourg, 

Rheinland-Pfalz is-provided-by 

Based on authority 

tables: 

Corporate bodies / 

Countries, must be 

extended to cover 

more agents 

1 . .* country / 

institution 

agent_ 

document 

The European institution, 

other bodies or Member 

State or regional bodies, who 

created the legal resource 

(e .g . European Parliament, 

Luxembourg Government, 

Agent / 

Authority 

To be unified 

with Agent? It 

will probably be 

difficult to create 

a comprehensive 

authority table for 

all cases 

service 0 . .* free text indicating 

responsible 

ministries, DGs etc . 

Rheinland-Pfalz parliament . . .) 

Name of Ministry if 

applicable 

Sub-Agent / 

Sub-authority

Eurovoc concept, 

identified by its 

Eurovoc code 

dcterms: 

subject 

is_about 0 . .* concept_eurovoc is-about (a Eurovoc 

concept) 

The subject of this legal 

resource 

Subject 

dcterms: 

date 

1 date Format: YYYY-MM-DD 

creation-date 

date_ 

document 

The official adption or 

signature date of the 

Date of 

adoption 

dcterms: 

issued 

1 

date_ 

publication 

document 

Date in which this legal 

resource was officially 

published 

If one date for the act is 

applicable, if multiple dates 

no entry 

Date of 

publication 

0 . .* Format: YYYY-MM-DD 

date_entryinto-force 

Date entering 

into force 

date_end- 0 . .* 

of-validity 

related_to 0 . .* URI Identifier 

to other legal 

resource(s) 

changed_by 0 . .* Identifier of other 

legal resource 

Date of end of 

validity 

dcterms: 

references 

is-related-to 

Related to 

dcterms: 

isReplacedBy 

is-related-to 

(approximative match) 

Legal resource changed 

(amended or replaced) by 

another legal resource 

(typically a newer version, 

replacement can be 

Changed by 

0 . .* is deliberate as 

sometimes a law 

is still partially in 

force, whereas other 

parts are already 

withdrawn 

List of values to 

be defined 

status 

status 0 . .* string Based on authority 

table: 

Legal resource 

versions . Has no 

direct counterpart in 

completely or partially) 

Status of the legal resource 

(in force, not in force, 

partially applicable, implicitly 

revoked, explicitely revoked, 

repealed, expired, suspended 

. . . etc ) 

Legal resource is based on 

another legal resource (e .g . 

a treaty article, a provision in 

the constitution, framework 

legislation . . .) 

references to other legal acts 

mentioned 

Status 

91 

the CDM 

is-governed-by 

based_on 0 . .* URI Identifier 

of other legal 

resource 

Based on 

cites 0 . .* URI Identifier 

of other legal 

resource 

Cites 

In XML serializations 

implicit 

dcterms: 

isVersionOf 

dcterms: 

language 

ENG language 

Expression (language dependent) 

Realisation of a work in a given language version 

Expression 

belongs_to 1 Identifier of other 

belongs to a 


work 

Language version of the language_ 1 string Based on authority 

Language expression . 

expression 

table: 

Languages

dcterms: title 

1 string n/a European 

Parliament 

resolution on 

the European 

Neighbourhood 

Policy 

(2004/2166(INI)) 

Title of the expression title_ 

expression 

name 

Title 

0 . .1 string n/a 

short_title_ 

expression 

title_ 

alternative 

published_ 

in (in CDM 

Established short title of the 

expression (if any) 

Alternative title of the 

expression (if any) 

Short title 

0 . .1 string n/a 

Alias 

OJ C127/1 

0 . .* Number of the 

OJ in which the 


is published, 

identified 

by a suitable 

mechanism 

on work 

level) 

Publication 

reference 

0 . .1 string 

A suitable free text 

description of the legal 

resource in the expression’s 

language (e .g . using the 

abstract) 

Description of 

the act 


implicit 


implicit 

Manifestation 

link or description to the physical object 

1 Identifier of 

manifests 

expression 

92 

dcterms: 

identifier 

link dcterms: 

identifier 

file: 

COM_2004_058_ 

EN_ACTE_f .pdf 

1 . .* string Format: 

URI 

link_ 

manifestation 

dcterms: 

publisher 

dcterms: 

publisher 

0 . .1 

publisher 

string 

Additional fields to be considered 

Consolidation Is the act consolidated or not 0 . .1 

URI link to the consolidated 

0 . .1 URI Identifier 

Link- 

text 

to other legal 

consolidation 

resource(s) 

Bold: Mandatory Fields

Example: 

93

95 

Riga 2011 



Riga 



ECONOMIC TRANSPARENCY 

EFFICENT PROTECTION 

FOR CONSUMERS 

Presented by 

Ms Nadja KWAPIL, 

Responsible for European Affairs, Wiener Zeitung, Austria

ECONOMIC 

TRANSPARENCY 

EFFICENT PROTECTION FOR CONSUMERS 

LACK OF CONSUMERS 

PROTECTION 

• Consumers are not (well) informed about the financial products in which 

they invest, as a result they often buy without knowledge of costs and riks. 

• Also advisors are not informed (and they admit and even regret it) about 

the products they´re promoting or selling. 

• Statistics/Media-reports especially in Germany and Austria clearly 

demonstrate the lack of information on the part of both, consumers and 

advisors. 

96

CAUSE AND EFFECT 

• „Sharp asymmetry in information and expertise between the manufacturers 

and distributors of products and retail investors.“ 

• „Another main weakness is related to the inconsistencies in the European 

regulatory framework in force. It is currently inadequate especially with 

regard to the retail investment market reality and is not able to offer 

investors a satisfactory level of protection.“ 

• „The main failings of the Community framework for packaged retail 

investment products have their origin in the lack of key investor disclosures 

and in the regulation of commercial practices.“ 

E-PROCUREMENT-MEETINGS 

• March 2011/Vienna: „Fiction or Reality?“ provided by Lieferanzeiger.at* 

– an online tool for creating and publishing tenders for public procurement. 

• Participants from over 19 different Memberstates of the EU. 

• Lectures and discussions (all above) on E-Tendering and E-Signature. 

*Enabels you - as a contracting authority/entity - to publish your tenders in 

the online journal of the Wiener Zeitung, in the supplement of the Official 

Journal of the EU, in your online procurement profile or in all Austrian 

regional journals. 

The Lieferanzeiger provides access to the standard forms used in European 

public procurement and to the national forms used in Austria. Thus, it 

accelerates your work and the publication of your tender. 

NEXT MEETING ON E-PROCUREMENT IN VIENNA: EARLY SPRING 2012 

97

MEETINGS - WORKING GROUP 

• Meeting AK/Vienna - April, 12th, 2011 - Defining the problem: Vacuum of 

protection. 

• Internal Meeting/Vienna - May, 17th, 2011 - Discussing results of legal 

research and analysis. 

• Internal Meeting/Vienna - June, 30th, 2011 - First drafts of our visions. 

• Internal Meeting/Vienna - July, 15th, 2011 - Fixing the final version - how to 

proceed. 

• International Meeting/Vienna - July, 20th, 2011 - Meeting with France, 

Luxembourg/Slovakia - preparing for Riga. 

EU - LEGAL BACKGROUND 

European Directives, all above: 

a. MiFID - Market in Financial Investment Directive 

b. KID - Key Investors Document 

c. UCITS - Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable 

Securities 

d. Retail Package 

98


European Directives, all above: 

a. MiFID - Market in Financial Investment Directive 

b. KID - Key Investors Document 

c. UCITS - Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable 

Securities 

d. Retail Package 


a. MiFID - Key aspects of MiFID 

•Authorisation, regulation and passporting 

•Client categorisation 

•Pre-trade transparency 

•Post-trade transparency 

•Best execution 

•Systematic Internaliser 

99

EU - LEGAL BACKGROUND - IV. 

c. Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities 

Directives 2001/107/EC and 2001/108/EC (or "UCITS") 

•UCITS are a set of European Union Directives that aim to allow collective 

investment schemes to operate freely throughout the EU on the basis of a 

single authorisation from one member state. In practice many EU member 

nations have imposed additional regulatory requirements that have 

impeded free operation with the effect of protecting local asset managers. 


d. Packaged Retail Investment Products 

•The retail investment market is largely dominated by 'packaged retail 

investment products'. These provide retail investors with easy access to 

financial markets, but can be complex for investors to understand. Those 

selling these products can also face conflicts of interest since they are often 

remunerated by the product manufacturers rather than directly by the retail 

investors. 

•A complex patchwork of regulation has grown up to address these risks, and 

inconsistencies and gaps in the patchwork have raised concerns as to the 

overall effectiveness of the regulatory regime, both in relation to its capacity 

to protect investors and its ability to ensure the markets work efficiently. These 

concerns have been further heightened by the impact of the financial crisis. 

100

SUB-CONCLUSION 

• We do have a lot of directives - legal precautions. 

• However, these legal precautions are insufficient in that they are not 

transparent and therefore difficult to apply (also linguists observed and 

complain about the very long and complicated sentences in leaflets). 

• There are a lot of different products; therefore it´s difficult to 

„evaluate“/forsee all the costs and the risks. 

• Of course, (basic) information can be helpful. But we´ll need additional 

protections to help consumers and specifically to protect them from 

aggressive or not-(well)-informed advisors. 

• Our „solution“/idea: the registration/publication of advisors and 

„advising“ leaflets (not primarily the products), transparent 

information for both, issuers and consumers. 

KEY-IDEA: BINDING REGISTRATION 

FOR ADVISORS 

• cf. Legal situation of Germany, where a new binding law obliges advisors to 

register into a database, administrated by the ministry of finances. That is - 

in our point of view - a good approach, but: the database is not public! 

• cf. „Zertifikate Forum Austria“. 

101

„ZERTIFIKATE-FORUM AUSTRIA“ 

WWW.ZERTIFIKATEFORUM.AT 

• Founded by the leading issuers of Austria (banks). 

• Independend, non-profit-association. 

• With the aim to strengthen the certificate-market, to promote trade with 

certificates. 

• But without hiding the risks - strong interest in transparency. 

102

„ZERTIFIKATE-FORUM AUSTRIA“ 

• Categorization of the different products (certificates). 

• Information-brochure for investors. 

• Ratings, analysis, data concerning the market. 

• Offered trainings for advisors – „Diplomas“. 

• DISADVANTAGES: - IT IS FOCUSED ON CERTIFICATES 

- INFORMATION GIVEN IS STILL COMPLICATED 

- AND REMAINS ABSTRACT 

MAIN CONCLUSION 

• „Necessity is the mother of invention“ - this national commitment proofs the 

present need of transparency in practice. 

• And therefore the prevailing need of the Memberstate´s commitment. 

• We should try to promote and install a platform, which provides on one 

hand the mentioned information: already existing leaflets and 

samples/KID – information for both, issuers and consumers. 

• On the other hand a database, where advisors are obliged to register in 

that it becomes obvious for consumers at whom to adress to; and to gain 

the consumer´s confidence in assuring responsibility (alone or together with 

the bank) for their acting. 

• This platform could be installed on an extra – neutral – Website to assure 

availability. 

• The requirements for registrating (eg.): owners of a certificate, advisors in 

training with notice of liability of the specific bank they are employed at. 

103

NEXT MEETING 

Next Meeting - Mid of November. 

YOU ARE INVITED - JOIN US 

104

105 

Riga 2011 



Riga 



ABOUT DISSEMINATION 

OF INFORMATION TO CITIZENS 

Presented by 

Didier FRANÇOIS, 

Deputy Director 

Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (DILA), France

Motivations 

3THE EUROPEAN FORUM OF OFFICIAL GAZETTES 

ANNUAL MEETING 

Riga, Latvia, September 2011 

SHARING EXPERIENCES AND BEST PRACTICES 

ABOUT DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION TO CITIZENS 

by Didier FRANÇOIS, Deputy Director 

Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (DILA), France 

Our topic, “Sharing experiences and best practices about dissemination of information to citizens”, 

is particularly important for a number of reasons. 

Disseminating information to citizens is an integral part of the primary administrative missions of each of 

the Forum member countries. It goes hand in hand with our fundamental mission of ensuring access to 

legislation. It also relates closely to the topic of economic transparency. 

Our joint Austrian-French working group is addressing both the dissemination of “information to citizens and 

economic transparency”. Other Forum colleagues are working on the topic of ensuring access to legislation. 

The initial results of our research on the dissemination of information to citizens confirm the relevance of the 

topic and offer ample room for future mutually beneficial multilateral cooperation. 

Methodology and objectives 

We all know that the various European Union countries differ widely in size, population, administrative 

organization and many other aspects. In addition, some are longstanding EU members, while others are 

newcomers. 

They also differ in terms of how they disseminate information to their citizens. It is both important 

and desirable to learn about each other’s systems, because the knowledge gained will help us to work 

together more effectively and will enable each of us to improve our own national approach. 

106 

1

With these considerations in mind, we arrived at the following methodology and objectives: 

1. Analysis of 10 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, 

Sweden, United Kingdom 

Based on the following criteria: 

1.1. Countries of different sizes (by surface area and population) 

1.2. Representative geographic location (Western Europe or Central Europe), with consideration 

also as to length of European Union membership 

1.3. Organizational model, e.g. centralized, decentralized, mixed... 

2. Creation of synergies between different national public information systems 

2.1. Sharing experiences and good practices 

2.2. Avenues for optimizing each country’s model based on national specificities 

2.3. Developing cooperation between different countries and organizations 

Questions addressed 

On the basis of our research and discussion, we developed a detailed, explicit analysis scheme for different 

aspects of the dissemination of public information. 

It asks five main questions: 

1. What range of services does each national website offer? 

2. Are legal information and administrative information separate? 

3. What is the distribution between administrative and commercial 

websites? 

4. What are the different funding models (payment required/free)? 

5. What are the main strengths and weaknesses of the websites analysed? 

107 

2

Snapshot of the Working Group’s Activities 

The members of the working group have met with each other many times in Vienna and Paris, as well as with 

other stakeholders and/or potential partners in Brussels, and have exchanged e-mails and information 

on various topics. 

Our group’s activities can be summarized chronologically as follows: 

• September 2009, London. At the Forum’s annual meeting, Austria (K. Schiessl of the Wiener Zeitung, 

publisher of Austria’s official printed gazette) introduces the idea of establishing a working group on 

“Sharing Experiences and Best Practices about Dissemination of Information to Citizens”. 

• September 2010, Rome. France (D. François of the DILA) throws its support behind the project at the 

Forum’s annual meeting. 

• January 2011, Vienna. The Austrian-French working group is formed during a meeting in Vienna. 

• February 2011. The DILA carries out a first study of five target countries: Austria, France, Germany, Spain 

and the United Kingdom. 

• February 2011. The group receives the Forum’s mandate, and the Publication Office 

assigns it a secretary. 

• March 2011, Rome. The project is presented at the meeting of the Forum’s expanded presidency. 

• May 2011, Paris. The DILA holds a lunch debate on the topic, “Potential synergies between different 

European on-line public service networks”. It is attended by the group’s executive members and 

representatives from the Publication Office and from DG Internal Market, which operates the Your Europe 

website. 

• May 2011 to June 2011. We carry out a broader, more detailed study than February’s, this time with 10 

target countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, 

Sweden and the United Kingdom. 

108 

3

Country 

Austria 

Belgium 

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION WEBSITES 

IN 10 EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES 

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom 

Range 

of products 

and/or services 

www.help.gv.at 

Top-ranked in Europe’s 2009 

e-Government Benchmark 

* Official federal administrative website 

(very similar to French model) 

* Two languages: German, English 

* “One stop” approach 

* More than 140 everyday situations 

covered under headings such as 

housing, disabled people, education, 

family, taxes/finance and social 

relief. 

* On-line filing 

* List of administrative websites 

* Glossary of legal terms 

* Search engine 

* General search form 

* Shortcut page for legal professionals 

* RSS feed 

www.belgium.be 


* Four languages: English, Dutch, 

French, German 

* Many everyday situations covered 

under headings such as family, 

justice, mobility, health, environment, 

work and education. 

* On-line filing (justice site) 



* Directory of administration offices 

* RSS feed 

* Payment required for some content 

(e.g. model contracts) 

* Other websites: 

Wallon site 

www.wallex.wallonie.be 

Separation 

between 

administrative 

and legal 

information? 

Yes 

www. 

ris.bka.gv.at 

Austria’s Legal 

Information 

System 

(RIS) 

Other website: 

www.rdb.at 

Database of legal 

publications 

Yes 

www. 

just.fgov.be 

All Belgian 

legislation 

Other website: 

www. 

droitbelge.be 

Participatory 

website on the 

law 

109 

Distribution 

between 

public and 

commercial 

Public 

Commercial 

Public 

Funding 

model 

Public 

(free) 

Public 

(free) 

Public 

(free) 

Strengths 

versus 

Weaknesses 

Administrative website: 

 

* Easy to access and use 

* Appealing graphics 

* Mobile e-signature 

* Many links to websites on 

everyday life, the family, the 

environment, etc. 

* Links to social networks like 

Twitter and Facebook 

 

* English content markedly 

more limited than German 

content 

Legal websites: 

 

* Clear, readable graphics 

* Well organized 

* Two languages: German, 

English 

* Free telephone information 

service 

* Telephone service for 

information on the European 

Union 

 

* - - - 

Administrative websites: 

 




* Numerous topics 



 

* Information somewhat limited 

or incomplete 

Legal websites 

 




 

* Information occasionally illassorted 

et specialized, 

basically intended for legal 

professionals 

4

Czech 

Republic 

France 

www.portal.gov.cz 

* Official administrative website 

* Two languages: Czech, English 

* Three main headings: 

1. Citizens 

2. Entrepreneurs 

3. Foreigners 

* Numerous everyday situations 


* List of government contracts 

* Debate on upcoming legislation 

* Directory of administration offices 


* Information on institutions 

*List of non-profit organizations 

* Glossary of common government 

terms 

www.service-public.fr 


(very similar to the Austrian model) 

* Three languages: French, English, 

German 

* Numerous everyday situations for 

three primary audiences: ordinary 

users, legal professionals and nonprofit 

organizations. Headings 

include money, other 

countries/Europe, family, education 

and work, justice, housing, leisure, 

papers/citizenship, social 

security/health and transport. 

* Telephone information line (Allo 

Service-public 3939) and on-line 

message form 


* Directories of administration offices 



* RSS feed 

Other websites: 

* Individual user account for on-line 

services 

www.mon.service-public.fr 

* Administrative initiative to develop 

the information society 

www.vie-publique.fr 

Yes 

www.mvcr.cz 

Principal legal 

instruments and 

codes of the 

Czech Republic 

www.sbcr.cz 

International laws 

and treaties 

since 1945 

Advice, studies, 

publications, 

addresses, etc. 

Yes 

www. 

legifrance.gouv. 

fr 

Official gazette 

since 1990 

Codes, 

consolidated 

texts, collective 

agreements 

www. 

journal-officiel. 

gouv.fr 

Authenticated 

official electronic 

gazette with 

official economic 

and financial 

information 

bulletins 

110 

Public 

Commercial 

(Wolters Kluwer) 

Public 

Public 

(free) 

Public 

/Commercial 

Public (free) 

Administrative website 

 




* Numerous topics and links 

 

* No links to social networks like 

Twitter or Facebook 


 


(e-government, EU, 

government contracts, public 

information bulletins, etc.) 

* Languages: Czech, English 

* Many links to specialized sites 

* Advice and case studies 

* Mobile telephone application 

* Clear and easy to access 

 

* No links to social networks 

like Twitter or Facebook 

Administrative websites: 

 



* Many links to site pages on 

everyday life, the family, the 

environment, non-profit 

organizations, etc. 

* Links to a administrative 

announcement site, 

accessible by mobile phone 

 

* Information scattered over too 

many websites, complicating 

the administrative landscape, 

e.g. separate sites for on-line 

filing 



Legal websites: 

 

* Very complete, easy to access 

* Three languages: French, 

English, Spanish 

 



5

Germany 

Poland 

www. bund.de 


* Two languages: German, English 

* No on-line filing 

* Five main headings: 

1. Civil service job offers 

2. Public-sector calls for tenders 

3. Federal government real estate 

for sale 

4. List of federal administration 

offices 

5. List of federal administrative 

services 

* Directories of federal administration 

offices 

www.poland.gov.pl 

* Official administrative website, but 

focused exclusively on external 

promotion (similar to the Swedish 

model) 

* Nine languages: Polish, Arabic, 

Chinese, English, French, German, 

Portuguese, Russian, Spanish 

* Topical pages on Poland, its history, 

everyday life, educational system, 

institutions, business opportunities, 

climate, culture and traditions, etc. 

* RSS feed 

Yes 

www.gesetzeim-internet.de 

Ministry of Justice 

makes almost 

the entire body of 

federal law 

available free of 

charge 

www.juris.de 

Complete, up-todate 

compilations 

of federal law 

Yes 

isap. 

sejm.gov.pl 

On-line database 

of parliamentary 

legislation 

www.lex.pl 

The Polish law 

server: various 

legal 

instruments, 

commentaries, 

analyses, 

addresses and 

links 

111 

Public 

Public 

Public 

Commercial 

(Wolters Kluwer) 

Public 

(free) 

Payment 

required 

Public 

(free) 

Payment 

required 


 

* - - - 

 

* Stark layout 

* Decentralized information for 

each State and city 

* Federal website information 

limited to the public sector 

* Very limited offering 

* Very little on-line filing 

* Counterexample: Munich 

website, in eight languages. 

Lively and informationpacked, 

but focused more on 

everyday living than public 

service 


 

* Broad, complete offering of 

legal instruments, business 

documents, certificates, etc. 

* Information easily accessed 

 

* Sites in German only 




 

* Ample information about many 

aspects of the country 

* Same content in all language 

versions 

* Links to social networks 

(Twitter, Facebook and Flickr) 

 

* Nothing for Polish citizens 


(available on the websites of 

some ministries) 


 


(e-government, EU, 

government contracts, public 

information bulletins, etc.) 

* Many links to specialized sites 

* Advice and case studies 

* Clear and easy to access 

* Mobile telephone application 

* RSS feed 

 

* In Polish only 

6

Romania 

Spain 

Sweden 

* Romania does not have an official 

administrative information website in 

the same sense as the other 

countries in the study. 

However, various administrative 

institutions have websites organized 

much like other European 

administrative sites (e.g. official 

websites of heads of state, 

parliament, various ministries) 

www.060.es 


* Five languages: Spanish, Catalan, 

Galician and Basque (official 

languages of Spain), plus English 

* Two main headings 

1. Citizens: on-line services, 

education, work, health care, 

transport, investment, taxes, 

culture, etc. 

2. Business: business information, 

tax information, sustainable 

development, innovation, 

government contracts, etc. 

* On-line filing 



* Links to other administrative sites 

www.sweden.se 

* Official administrative website, but 

focused exclusively on external 

promotion (similar to the Polish 

model) 

* Six basic languages, but not 

Swedish: English, Chinese, French, 

German, Russian, Spanish 

* Several thematic pages on Sweden, 

everyday life, economy, health care, 

institutions, business opportunities, 

climate, culture and traditions, etc. 

* RSS feed 

* No Swedish version 

Yes 

http://legislatie. 

just.ro 

Ministry of Justice 

search engine 

www.legisplus. 

ro 

Legal database 

Yes 

www.boe.es 

Official gazette 

and trade 

register 

Consolidated 

legislation 

Yes 

www. 

lagrummet.se 

Legal information 

portal 

112 

Public 

Commercial 

Public 

Public 

Public 

(free) 

Payment 

required 

Public 

(free) 

Public 

(free) 


 

* - - - 

 

* No website 


 

* A modern, functional 

database 

 

* Dysfunctional search engine 

on the public site 


 



* On-line form for complaints 

and suggestions 

 



Legal website 

 

* Complete and informative 

* Relatively easy to access 

* RSS feed 



 

* - - - 


 

* Ample information about 

many aspects of the country 

* Lively, appealing and fun to 

visit 


(Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, 

Flickr, Google Buzz, etc.) 

 

* Nothing for Swedish citizens 

* Several languages (English, 

Chinese, French, German, 

Russian, etc.), but more 

content in the English version 

(summaries in other versions) 


(available on some ministry 

websites) 

Legal website 

 

* Very complete and accessible 

* Two languages: Swedish, 

English 

* Instructional, with 

explanations of Swedish law 

and procedures 

* Glossary and search tips 

* RSS feed 

 

* - - - 

7

United 

Kingdom 

www.direct.gov.uk 


* Two languages: English, Welsh 

* “One stop” approach 

* Numerous everyday situations under 

headings including motoring, 

education, money; tax and benefits; 

home and community, travel and 

transport; government, citizens and 

rights; parents, young people; 

disabled people; crime and justice; 

health and well-being; pensions, and 

local services. 

* Many on-line filing options 



* RSS feed 

* Users can petition the government or 

make legislative suggestions 

* Also offers video clips on how to 

handle various situations (e.g. “Living 

in a difficult suburb, “Interviewing for 

a job”) 

* ‘Newsroom’ with quick links to 

government-related news, e.g. crime 

monitoring 

* Young people’s page 

Yes 

Principal official 

site for legislation 

www.legislation 

.gov.uk 

Other sites: 

National Archives 

www. 

nationalarchives. 

gov.uk 

The British & Irish 

Legal Institute 

www.bailii.org 

113 

Public 

Public 

Commercial 

Public 

(free) 

Public 

(free) 

Commercial 

(free) 


 

* Very complete and informative 




(Twitter, Facebook, 

YouTube, Google Buzz, etc.) 

* Mobile phone version 

* Some innovative ideas 

 

* Only national languages: 

English, Welsh 

* Difficult to manage a site with 

such a wide range of 

information??? 


 

* Very complete 

* Converted to a single format 

* User tools with explanations 

* FAQ 

* Users can make legislative 

suggestions 

 

* Single language: English 

* No links to social networks 

8

Conclusions 

1. The 10 European sites analysed present significant differences, mostly in terms of the range of services 

offered (in the case of the administrative information sites) and the website operator (in the case of the 

legal information sites). 

1.1. Two main models dominate the administrative information websites: 

1.1.1. The predominantly citizen-oriented model of the United Kingdom, Austria, France, etc. 

(Appendix 1) 

1.1.2. The external promotion model followed by Poland and Sweden. (Appendix 2) 

1.2. The legal information websites are run by various organizations such as the Ministry of Justice or 

the National Archives, sometimes in conjunction with commercial website operators. 

1.2.1. France is the only country in which a single institution, the DILA, maintains two websites. 

(Appendix 3) 

2. All of the countries have separate administrative information and legal information websites. Some 

administrative information portals also provide legal information, but not the texts of laws. 

3. The administrative information websites analysed contain exclusively information of public origin. 

The legal information websites are a mixed bag, with information on some sites provided by commercial 

website operators. (Appendix 4) 

N.B. Points 2 and 3 tie in closely with the work of John Dann’s working group on Ensuring access to 

legislation. 

4. Payment is required only for legal information, generally in the more recent EU Members (the Czech 

Republic, Poland and Romania). 

5. The major strengths of many citizen-oriented sites are their wealth of information, their accessibility, their 

many links to social networks and, in some cases (Austria and the United Kingdom), their “one stop” 

approach. 

• The best legal information sites sometimes offer completeness, ease-of-use for non-specialists and 

telephone information lines. 

• The most common weaknesses are the absence of foreign language versions of legal information 

websites and the absence of links to social networks. 

• The specific case of Romania, which does not have a administrative information website like the other 

countries analysed. However, the offerings of Romania’s legal information websites are comparable to 

those of the other countries. 

The diversity of the national websites, as well as our desire to analyse any synergies at the European level, 

have naturally led us to take a look at the European Union approach. To that end, we established contact 

with the European site, Your Europe, which is managed jointly by two European Commission Directorates 

General: the Internal Market DG and the Enterprise DG. (Appendix 5) 

• Your Europe is an official website of the European Commission that disseminates public information for 

two primary audiences: citizens and business. This naturally makes it of interest to our working group, 

given that our two topics are “disseminating information to citizens and economic transparency”. 

114 

9

Looking ahead 

Austria and France’s interest in the subject and the results of the study have encouraged our two countries to 

continue and develop joint initiatives. 

• Austria and France are planning to expand our study to include other countries in order to gain a clearer 

understanding of the issues and increase the relevance of our analyses. 

• This September, we plan to begin looking into the possibility of collaborating with Your Europe on a study 

of several target European countries. 

• If you are interested in the issue of disseminating information to citizens, we would like to grow our 

working group by welcoming new members. 

We wish to extend a warm invitation to join us in all of these activities 

and to develop others... 

TOGETHER! 

115 

10

APPENDIX 1 

APPENDIX 1 

116 

11 

11

117 

12

118 

13

APPENDIX 2 

APPENDIX 2 

119 

14 

14

120 

15

APPENDIX 3 

APPENDIX 3 

121 

16 

16

Romania 

Ministry of Justice legal information website 

APPENDIX 4 

122 

17

Romania 

Commercially operated legal information website 

123 

18

APPENDIX 5 

124 

19

Citizens’ website 

Business website 

125 

20

126

127 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 

IN THE DILA 

Presented by 

Didier FRANÇOIS, 

Deputy Director 

Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (DILA), France

EUROPEAN FORUM OF OFFICIAL GAZETTES 

ANNUAL MEETING 

Riga, Latvia, September 2011 

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE DILA 

by Didier FRANÇOIS, Deputy Director 

Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (DILA), France 

The DILA is a specific institution in the European public landscape since it combines both administrative and 

legal information; Our aim is thus to fulfil our role as the French state’s publisher and printer of reference. 

As such we pay particular attention to the issue of Sustainable Development which forms part of our main 

priorities; we already presented a communication on this topic at our previous annual meeting in Rome, in 

September 2010. 

Sustainable Development must be a lever for improving all our activities 

and for helping us to achieve greater economic efficiency. 

128 

1

I INTERNAL ACTIONS 

The Sustainable Development policy was launched in late 2010 and incorporated into the 

Directorate's management chart. This approach includes Quality. 

An initial process was chosen 

Printing process improving economic and environmental performance 

• Obtain ISO 14001 certification which is an environmental management system 

• Ten targets for: controlling the environmental impacts of its operations and its products, matching the 

resources used with assessed needs; anticipating risks and continually improving its performance 

• Differentiating our public printer service offer 

A recent counter-example: the DILA failed to win a contract since it was the only tenderer 

not ISO 14001 certified 

Process of public procurement buy better to buy less 

• Awareness by all the DILA is essential for the success of the approach 

• A policy focused on actions linked to daily work practices 

• Developed in a collaborative mode by volunteering officers/employees and covering the areas 

of consumption, waste, recycling, solidarity... 

• Supported by training yet to be implemented 

• Here we are calling on the DILA's social responsibility and that of its staff 

Awareness by all the DILA is essential for the success of the approach 

• A policy focused on actions linked to daily work practices 

• Developed in a collaborative mode by volunteering officers/employees and covering the areas 

of consumption, waste, recycling 

• Solidarity Supported by training yet to be implemented 

• Here we are calling on the DILA's social responsibility and that of its staff 

129 

2

Means to match its ambitions 

• The Sustainable Development Mission is directly attached to the DILA's Deputy Director's Office 

• Its functions are twofold 

• Decision-making assistance for the management 

• Support in its implementation for operations staff 

• It consists of three qualified people and has a budget to carry out its objectives contained 

in the management chart 

II PERCEPTION OF THE TOPIC BY THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE FORUM 

• Our commitment to Sustainable Development is multifaceted and also requires external collaboration 

We launched an invitation for this to all the members of our forum at our previous annual meeting in 

Rome in September 2010 

• In January 2011, we designed and distributed a questionnaire aimed at finding out about your 

experiences, your plans and questions about this topic in order to share best practices and move forward 

together (see. ANNEXE) 

Here are the main results we have obtained so far 

• We received 9 replies out of the 27 questionnaires sent, i.e. a 30 % response rate 

with quite good representativeness of the sample (countries of different sizes which joined the European 

Union at different times). 

Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, and OPOCE 

130 

3

• Seven areas of application were analysed: 

1. Printing 

2. Marketing and Communications 

3. Legal Aspects 

4. Purchasing 

5. Information Systems 

6. Allies and Obstacles 

7. Future Priorities 

Main conclusion of the survey 

1. Printing 

• The general trend is a gradual downward use of paper distribution in favour of digital media 

• In respect of paper, the share of recycled paper is increasing steadily 

• Several countries (France, Luxembourg...) as well as the OPOCE are in the process of or already have 

adopted PEFC, FSC and IMPRIMVERT certification 

• France is aiming as a priority to obtain ISO 14001 certification for its entire printing process 

• In some countries (Austria, Latvia ...) the printing process is outsourced (private) 

2. Marketing and communication 

• All countries report making efforts to make their various partners (customers and suppliers) aware of the 

issue of Sustainable Development 

• All countries report a wish to gradually change over to exclusively digital means for marketing and 

communication 

3. Legal aspects 

• A fairly unequal situation, between those countries who report having specific national legislation 

(Luxembourg, France and Germany in part) and the other countries which have none 

131 

4

4. Purchasing 

4. Purchasing 

4. • Purchasing No country reported having introduced the concept of Sustainable Development in this area 

• No France country asserts reported it is starting having and introduced is targeting the concept this area of as Sustainable one of its priorities Development in the in future this area 

• No country reported having introduced the concept of Sustainable Development in this area 

• France In contrast, asserts the it OPOCE is starting states and that is targeting this is an this on-going area as one and of complex its priorities process in the in future its relationships with all 

• France asserts it is starting and is targeting this area as one of its priorities in the future 

• In suppliers, contrast, with the customers OPOCE states and with that employees this is an on-going and complex process in its relationships with all 

• In contrast, the OPOCE states that this is an on-going and complex process in its relationships with all 

• Luxembourg suppliers, with requires customers the use and of with FSC employees and PEFC certified paper for all public procurement procedures 

suppliers, with customers and with employees 

• Luxembourg requires the use of FSC and PEFC certified paper for all public procurement procedures 

• Luxembourg requires the use of FSC and PEFC certified paper for all public procurement procedures 




• An imbalance between the different countries between those which use Green IT and the others 

• An Included imbalance among between the countries the different especially countries committed between to those this issue which are use Luxembourg, Green IT and Austria, the others the Czech 

• An imbalance between the different countries between those which use Green IT and the others 

• Included Republic and among France the countries especially committed to this issue are Luxembourg, Austria, the Czech 

• Included among the countries especially committed to this issue are Luxembourg, Austria, the Czech 

• All Republic countries and nevertheless France report making efforts with regard to recycling 

Republic and France 

• All countries nevertheless report making efforts with regard to recycling 

• All countries nevertheless report making efforts with regard to recycling 




• Almost all countries consider the general enthusiasm for Sustainable Development to be positive 

• Almost The majority all countries address consider the issue the on general a sectorial enthusiasm basis, others for Sustainable prefer a cross-cutting Development approach to be positive (France) 

• Almost all countries consider the general enthusiasm for Sustainable Development to be positive 

• The Among majority the main address obstacles the issue mentioned on a sectorial are lack basis, of experience, others prefer financial a cross-cutting means and approach political will (France) 

• The majority address the issue on a sectorial basis, others prefer a cross-cutting approach (France) 

• Among the main obstacles mentioned are lack of experience, financial means and political will 

• Among the main obstacles mentioned are lack of experience, financial means and political will 



• 7. Future This question Priorities resulted in the fewest concrete answers but which remain the most diverse. 

• This The countries question speak resulted of their in wish the to fewest make concrete Sustainable answers Development but which central remain to the development the most diverse. of their 

• This question resulted in the fewest concrete answers but which remain the most diverse. 

organisation The countries (Austria, speak of France, their wish Romania), to make to Sustainable develop/improve Development e-solutions central (Luxembourg, to the development Latvia), to of further their 

The countries speak of their wish to make Sustainable Development central to the development of their 

organisation restrict paper (Austria, production France, (virtually Romania), all) or to to develop/improve form partnerships e-solutions with the (Luxembourg, private sector Latvia), (Latvia, to further Czech 

organisation (Austria, France, Romania), to develop/improve e-solutions (Luxembourg, Latvia), to further 

restrict Republic). paper production (virtually all) or to form partnerships with the private sector (Latvia, Czech 

restrict paper production (virtually all) or to form partnerships with the private sector (Latvia, Czech 

Republic). 

Republic). 

These results confirm the initial trends that we first presented at the meeting of the expanded 

Presidency These results of the Forum confirm in March the initial 2011 in trends Rome that we first presented at the meeting of the expanded 

These results confirm the initial trends that we first presented at the meeting of the expanded 

Presidency of the Forum in March 2011 in Rome 

Presidency of the Forum in March 2011 in Rome 

• Very large disparities between different countries of the Forum regarding the importance they attach 

• Very to Sustainable large disparities Development, between how different they apply countries its principles of the and Forum the areas regarding that the it concerns importance they attach 

• Very large disparities between different countries of the Forum regarding the importance they attach 

• to Some Sustainable countries Development, (Austria, France, how they Luxembourg) apply its principles include and Sustainable the areas Development that it concerns in the list of their 

to Sustainable Development, how they apply its principles and the areas that it concerns 

• Some strategic countries priorities (Austria, France, Luxembourg) include Sustainable Development in the list of their 

• Some countries (Austria, France, Luxembourg) include Sustainable Development in the list of their 

• Others strategic (Italy...) priorities so far show a limited interest… 

strategic priorities 

• Others It is the (Italy...) OPOCE so far which show a is limited indisputably interest… an example to follow regarding the commitment 

• Others (Italy...) so far show a limited interest… 

• It of measures is the OPOCE related which to Sustainable is indisputably Development an example and Luxembourg to follow too regarding is very far the advanced. commitment 

• It is the OPOCE which is indisputably an example to follow regarding the commitment 

of measures related to Sustainable Development and Luxembourg too is very far advanced. 5 

of measures related to Sustainable Development and Luxembourg too is very far advanced. 

5 

5 

132

ANNEXE 

1. Printing 

QUESTIONNAIRE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 

1.1. Have you developed a strategy to introduce a gradual balance between paper and computer supports in 

accordance with Sustainable Development requirements? 

1.2. Have you implemented an eco-responsible approach to printing (plant-based inks, recycled paper, 

waste management, low-energy intensive machines, other, etc.)? 

2. Marketing and communication 

2.1. How have you streamlined your communication supports (paper/electronic) in terms of printing and 

distribution? 

2.2. Which “responsible” rules do you use to inform your customers about your products and services? 

3. Legal aspects 

3.1. To which main areas of national regulations on Sustainable Development are you subject? 

4. Purchases 

4.1. Have you undertaken procedures to identify your needs in line with your resources? 

4.2. Have you set up a relationship with your suppliers enabling them to offer eco-responsible services? 

4.3. How do you offer your customers products and/or services which reduce negative social and 

environmental impacts? 

5. Information systems 

5.1. Do you use Green IT for your computer installations? 

5.2. Have you set up eco-responsible procedures for waste management and recycling? 

5.3. How do you use the complementary relationship between paper-based editorial and digital activity? 

6. Friends and foes 

6.1. Have you identified and/or contacted partners to carry out your Sustainable Development projects? 

6.2. Do you opt for a more cross-cutting or a more sectorial approach in the field? 

6.3. Have you identified any obstacles and specific risks in this field? 

6.4. Have you estimated the costs of your projects? 

133 

6

7. Future priorities 

7.1. Overall, how do you apply the national and/or European strategy on Sustainable Development in your 

activities? 

7.2. Which approaches would you like to commit to in the medium-term? 

7.3. What are your long-term goals? 

8. Would you to develop thinking on these subjects at the workshop? 

9. Your comments and suggestions… 

134 

7

135

136

137 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


COOPERATION BETWEEN THE LEGISLATOR 

AND THE OFFICIAL PUBLISHER 

Workshop session summary 

Presented by 

Mr Søren BROBERG NIELSEN 

Head of Division, 

Ministry of Justice, Department of Civil Affairs, Denmark

Cooperationbetween 

thelegislatorandthe 

officialpublisher 

Ensuringauthenticityof 

announcednormativeacts 

Technicalsolutions 

Agendafortheworkshop 

• Whatwouldbeyouridealproductionsystem 

– Theskyisthelimit 

• Nofundingproblems 

• Usersarepositiveandskilled 

• 4smallgroups 

138

Headlinesfromthegroups 

• Onesystem 

• Userrights(separationofpowers) 

• Draftingtool 

• Flexibility 

• Dataandmetadata 

• Consolidatedtexts 

• 3clicksandyouareproduced 

• Willwebeoutofbusiness 

139

140

141 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


SCOPE OF AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION 


Presented by 

Ms Carol TULLO 

Director of Information Policy and Services, 

The National Archives, United Kingdom

Scopeofanofficialpublication 

MsCarolTullo 

FacilitatorofWorkingGroup 

Discussionthemes 

• Scopeofanofficialpublication 

• Informationthathaslegalconsequences? 

• Orinformationforgeneralawareness? 

• Nationalorlocal/municipallegislative 

content? 

• Howisservicefinanced? 

142

Informationthathaslegalconsequences? 

• Consensusthatcoverageismanlyinformation 

thathaslegaleffect 

Informationforgeneralawareness? 

• France– uniquelyhasabroaderscope 

coveringgeneralawarenessofthecitizen 

143

Nationalorlocal/municipallegislativecontent? 

• Differentapproachesindifferentjurisdictions 

• Sizeofjurisdictiondictatesapproach 

Howisservicefinanced? 

• Concessionarycontract– risktransferredto 

contractor 

• Incomefromusersplacingnoticesor 

advertisements 

• Subscriptionincome 

• Subsidyfromgovernment 

144

Issues 

• Currenteconomicsituationcreatingpressureon 

revenue 

• Differenceinversionthatcarrieslegalauthority 

• Differentapproachappropriatefullsizefor 

jurisdiction 

• Opportunitiestocreatenewrevenuesources 

• Shifttoelectronicpublishing 

• Brandingandtitle 

145

146

147 

Riga 2011 



Riga 


SECURITY ASPECTS OF THE OFFICIAL 

ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION 


Presented by 

Mr Aki HIETANEN 

Director of Information Services, 

Ministry of Justice, Finland

Security aspects of 

the official electronic publication 

a. Ensuring continuous accessibility 

b. Ensuring trust for the user 

c. Protection of personal data 

148 

Riga 16.9.2011 

Security aspects - 

the he conclusions 

In exceptional situations there is still need to 

keep capability to make the paper versions 

There is confidence in the electronic version 

For the electronic publication of Official 

Gazettes, the same backup systems are 

needed as for any other electronic systems 

If the information is provided in the official 

webpage it is considered as reliable 

E-signatures signatures are worth using, psychological 

impact on the production and archiving 

Time stamps as method for verification of the 

document 

Riga 16.9.2011

Security aspects - the 

conclusions (2) 

Difference of publishing personal data in the 

official gazettes 

There are several solutions to avoid problems 

1) to give no permission to Google to index 

2) anonymization of documents, problem of 

authenticity 

3)Tagging of XML data elements 

149 

Riga 16.9.2011

150

Working Documents - CIRCA - Europa

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?