Indexing Legislation
Last updated
Last updated
Whether it's a new Act, By-law, or set of Regulations, or a new Commencing, Amending, or Repealing work, if it doesn't yet exist on the Laws.Africa platform it will need to be created.
For this, you will usually need either:
a copy of the work as published in the Gazette (or other official publication); or
the metadata for that work as provided by a trusted source. You may refer to the .
You will use this to fill in as many details as are available in the New work form. The instructions below will assume that you are using a copy of the work as published in the Gazette (or other official publication).
There is a section below for each field in the form.
To create any new work, regardless of its type or content, open the works page for the appropriate country and click on the top right corner, Add New work:
A form will open that looks like this:
To edit an existing work, click Edit work on the work detail page:
The work details are the core, basic details for a work. Items marked with a red asterisk are required and cannot be blank.
This is the short title of the Work, such as 'Accountants Act, 2012', or 'Nursing Regulations, 2009'. The official short title of a Work is usually specified in its 'Short title' or 'Citation" section. If there isn't one, refer to the contents page of the Gazette.
This is the year in which the work was first introduced into Parliament or Council.
For example: for 'Act 5 of 2012', the year of introduction is 2012.
This is the number of the work within the year of introduction. Together with the year, it uniquely identifies the work.
For example: for 'Act 5 of 2012', the number within the year is '5'.
South African by-laws, and other works, sometimes don't have numbers. In this case, use the title of the work, but with the following changes:
use all lowercase
replace all spaces with hyphens
remove references to the name of the municipality or town, since this is already captured
remove the word 'by-law' and phrases such as 'relating to'
For example: for the 'Cape Town By-law relating to the consumption of Strawberries', the number would be 'consumption-of-strawberries'. Yum, strawberries. 🍓
Leave this blank for Acts. For other types of works, choose an option from the dropdown list. Examples include by-law, legal notice (ln), and statutory instrument (si).
Leave this blank for everything other than subsidiary legislation.
When working with subsidiary legislation, the Primary work will be the Act in terms of which the subsidiary legislation is promulgated. For example, the Nursing Regulations will have the Nursing Act as the Primary work.
Click Choose primary work and search for the relevant Act.
If subsidiary legislation amends or commences an Act, do not also link that act as a Primary work.
A stub is a work that solely commences, repeals or amends another work. If a work is a stub, check the "stub" box.
Everything else that is not a stub is a principal work. If something is not a stub, check the "principal" box.
The publication details refer to when and where the work was first published in an official government publication, such as the Government Gazette.
For the publication date, use the date of publication of the Gazette.
In the example below, this is 2016-03-04.
For the publication name, use the name of the publication, such as Government Gazette. Choose an option from the dropdown list, if possible.
In the example below, this is Eastern Cape Provincial Gazette.
The publication number is the number of the publication or gazette.
In the example below, this is 3614.
Do not use volume number, part number, or supplement number for the publication number.
Having a record of the work as it was originally published by the relevant authority enables end users to verify any content published using the platform.
Once the publication date, name and number have been filled in, an option to Attach document will appear in places where we already have a collection of gazettes and the relevant gazette was found in that collection. You can Ctrl/Cmd+click the link ending in .pdf to open it in a new tab and verify that this is the right gazette before attaching it.
If the option does not appear, double-check the details you have entered. If you're certain of them and have a copy of the original work to hand, upload it using the Browse... or similar option.
The Commencement date is the date on which a work starts having legal force; the Assent date is the date on which it was approved / signed by the relevant authority.
Unless the work specifically states that it will only come into force by Notice or Proclamation, check the Commenced box. Once these and other essential details have been filled in and the work created, a new section will appear under the commenced box and will give you the option to enter the Commencement date.
The Commencement date will often be the same as the Publication date. Check the 'Commencement' section of the work for exceptions.
If this is a work with a Commencing work, click Choose commencing work and search for it.
In rare cases when working with older legislation, we may have strong reason to believe that a work has been in force for some time, but we're still looking for the Commencing work to pin down the exact date on which it commenced. Only in those rare cases, check the Commence box but leave the date fiel empty. This has the effect of marking the work as having commenced and adding the 'Commencement date unknown' label.
Acts often explicitly give an Assent date in the Gazette:
For subsidiary legislation, the assent date will the date on which the functionary signed the work, usually appearing at the end of a document.
By-laws often don't have an Assent date, but when they do, it will be the date on which it was approved by Council:
If the work has been repealed, click Choose repealing work and search for the Repealing work.
The date will auto-fill as the Commencement date of the Repealing work. If a different date for the Repeal was specified in the Repealing work, edit the date before saving.
Sometimes works may have an expiry date, or a date on which they will stop being in force, specified in the work document itself. In such instances, the mark the repealing work to be the work itslef and add the date of expiry.
