Internet hits Government Gazette subscriptions

Subscriptions to the Government Gazette have dropped by over 30 per cent over recent years as more and more useful extracts from the gazette have been published on the internet, the director of the Department of Information, Emanuel Abela said.

"Prima facie, one might interpret this as bad news, but it's not like that at all.

"Admittedly, revenue from the sale of the Gazette has consequently dropped. However, due to the fact that paper and printing costs have always by far outweighed relative revenue, the drop in the number of copies that have to be printed with every issue of the Gazette - which is at least twice weekly - is proving to be much more cost effective.

"Businessmen and job seekers who used to buy the Gazette simply for tender announcements and job vacancies respectively, don't have to do that anymore; instead, they just access the DOI website and get the information they need faster and free of charge," he said.

"The public is definitely the winner in all this. On the other hand, continued reduced paper and printing costs will enable the DOI to re-utilise these savings on the production of informative publications that can be much more benefical and useful to the public."

Mr Abela was speaking to The Times following the decision to sell government publications from bookshops and stationers, an opportunity which was taken up by Agenda Bookshops in Valletta, Sliema, Msida and St Andrew's, Discovery in Msida, and Hertie and Sapienzas, both in Valletta.

Government publications essentially deal with official information that is required to be published in terms of the law, primarily the Government Gazette, which has been in circulation since 1813.

It is invariably issued at least twice weekly, on every Tuesday and Friday, frequently accompanied by supplements containing bills tabled in parliament, legal notices and acts approved by the House of Representatives, the latter two becoming legal upon publication. Bound volumes of the Acts of Parliament and of subsidiary legislation are published on a yearly basis.

Two other documents specifically required to be published by law are the electoral registers for general elections (on district basis) and for local council elections (on locality basis) respectively, both containing lists of eligible voters and published every April and October of each year.

Budget Day brings along a series of publications, namely the complete text of the Finance Minister's speech in parliament (in Maltese and English), the financial estimates containing detailed figures, tables as well as other information about the various revenue and expenditure votes falling under each ministry, and lastly the Economic Survey drawn up by the Economic Policy Division.

Three publications closely related to the civil service are The Public Service Management Code (formerly known as the Estacode) as updated last July, the Government of Malta Staff List containing details of employees in departments within each ministry, and the annual Report of Government Departments which gives an account of the workings of all government departments during the previous year.

Other official publications of particular interest are the Traffic Highway Code (Maltese and English versions), Geological Maps of Malta, Gozo and Comino, the Press Act, the Customs Tariffs and various white papers.

The DOI also publishes a number of educational, statistical and cultural publications, while National Audit Office publications cover a variety of performance audits of various departments. Of particular importance is the publication containing the report of the Auditor General on the accounts of the government, which is annually submitted to parliament.

The publications will remain on sale from the DOI Sales Office at Castille Square Valletta, as well as on internet.

http://www.doi.gov.mt