Official gazettes and public notices of record

What a gazette notice does

A gazette notice puts a fact or decision on the public record. The UK Gazette says it consists largely of statutory notices, which means there is some legal requirement for the placer to advertise an event or proposal in it ¹. Notices placed in The Gazette have legal standing, and The Gazette has special protection under the Documentary Evidence Act 1882 ¹.

United Kingdom: The Gazette

The Gazette was first published on 15 November 1665 as The Oxford Gazette and was renamed The London Gazette in 1666 ¹. It is now formally the combination of The London Gazette, The Belfast Gazette and The Edinburgh Gazette ¹. TSO publishes it under the superintendence of HMSO, part of The National Archives ¹.

Only registered and verified persons acting in an official capacity can place notices ¹. TSO checks that each placer has authority for the notice type, so a corporate insolvency notice requires a registered insolvency practitioner ¹. Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament is published in The Gazette ¹.

• Issue: a PDF or print copy gathering notices placed on the preceding day or days ¹.
• Supplement: related entries on one subject published together, such as a weekly Ministry of Defence promotions supplement ¹.
• Example of a statutory deadline: a winding-up petition notice must appear not less than seven business days after service on the company and not less than seven business days before the hearing ⁶.

European Union: the Official Journal

The Official Journal is published in an L series and a C series, each with a daily view on EUR-Lex ². As of July 2013, only the electronic edition on EUR-Lex is authentic and produces legal effects ². From 1 October 2023, the Official Journal is no longer a collation of acts with a table of contents ². Each act is published individually as an authentic Official Journal in PDF format ².

United States: the Federal Register

Under 44 U.S.C. 1507, a document that must be published in the Federal Register is not valid against a person without actual knowledge of it until it has been filed with the Office of the Federal Register and made available for public inspection ³. Filing is sufficient to give notice of its contents to a person subject to or affected by it, except where a statute provides otherwise ³. Publication creates a rebuttable presumption, including that the chapter's requirements for the document were met, and the contents of the Federal Register are judicially noticed ³.

Under 5 U.S.C. 553, a general notice of proposed rule making must be published in the Federal Register, with an exception where the persons subject to it are named and served or have actual notice ⁴. The agency must then give interested persons an opportunity to comment ⁴. A substantive rule must be published or served not less than 30 days before its effective date, with listed exceptions ⁴.

Canada: the Canada Gazette

The Government of Canada describes the Canada Gazette as its official newspaper ⁵. Part I carries notices and proposed regulations, Part II official regulations and Part III Acts of Parliament ⁵. Publications from 1998 can be searched on the gazette website, and editions from 1841 to 1997 are held in a Library and Archives Canada collection ⁵.

Four gazettes side by side