News story

Review of British Antarctic Territory legislation: Official Gazette, Attorney General and law revisions

Consultation on proposed changes to the Official Gazette and new Attorney General and Revision of Law Ordinances.

The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is undertaking a review of its legislation in order to update and modernise it.

The first proposed change relates to the Official Gazette which records all BAT legislation, Orders and official appointments. We are proposing to make the Gazette digital via our website to make it more readily available.

The other proposed changes are to rename the position of Principal Legal Adviser to Attorney General to bring BAT in line with other Overseas Territories and a new Revision of Law Ordinance to set out clearly the process we are embarking on to revise the BAT legislation and how laws will be revised and repealed.

We are now undertaking a 2-month consultation period for these proposed changes. If you have any comments on the attached documents please email them to polarregions@fco.gov.uk by the end of January 2016.

As the review process continues, further consultation will be added to the BAT website.

The Official Gazette (Publication) Order 2015 (Draft) (ODT, 65.2 KB)

The Interpretation and General Provisions (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 (Draft) – Reasons and Occasion (ODT, 5.89 KB)

The Interpretation and General Provisions (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 (Draft) (ODT, 10 KB)

The Attorney General Ordinance 2015 (Draft) – Reasons and Occasion (PDF, 56.3 KB, 1 page)

The Attorney General Ordinance 2015 (Draft) (ODT, 17.3 KB)

The BAT Law Revision Ordinance 2015 (Draft) – Reasons and Occasion (PDF, 63 KB, 2 pages)

The BAT Law Revision Ordinance 2015 (Draft) (ODT, 26.9 KB)

Published 17 November 2015