Gazette of Disaster Risk Management Order No. 8 – Dated June 15, 2020

June 19, 2020 by rightpouitree 3 Comments

The electronic copy of the Gazette of the most recent Disaster Risk Management (Enforcement Measures ) Order has now been posted on the websites of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Justice. This is Order No. 8. The hard copy was not yet available from the Jamaica Printing Services when I called this morning (June 19, 2020).

Here is a copy of the Gazette:

The Disaster Risk Management (Enforcement Measures) (No. 8) Order 2020 – June 15 2020

Order No. 8 is firmly dated June 15, 2020, though it obviously wasn’t gazetted on that date. On Tuesday night (June 16, 2020), Prime Minister Andrew Holness brought the draft order to the House for discussion, as has been his practice. No copies of the draft order were circulated to the Members of Parliament, which has been the recent practice.

During the discussion, Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte responded to a question that had been posed by an Opposition MP and her preface to her response makes clear that the Gazette of Order No. 8 was not available at the time.

All right, so the Disaster Risk Management Enforcement Measures Number 8 Order was promulgated by the Prime Minister last week taking, took effect on the 15th, which was yesterday. This is the non-gazetted, it is being gazetted and should be completed by now, but this is it. You will see a number of improvement, clarity. Right, I’m just telling you. So, it, the law does not require the Order to be laid in the House, but it’s going to be brought here.

– Attorney General Malahoo Forte, Parliament, 16-6-2020

The PBCJ recording of the sitting of the House is available and the Attorney General’s comments begin at approx 5:47:40 in the recording.

Tracking when the Gazettes of the Covid-19 Orders become publicly available has really raised fo me the issue of the dating of the Gazettes containing these Orders, as the Gazette often carries a date prior to the date when it seems that the gazetting has actually taken place.

How is the date for the Gazette determined? Is it the date on which the measures are first broadcast by the Prime Minister, but not yet gazetted? Or the date on which measures come into effect, but not yet gazetted? Or when the final draft copy is sent for gazetting? Or when the Gazette is actually printed?

It is an obscure process, but can have some significant consequences. I will try to find out more.

I am also posting here a copy of an amendment that was made to the previous Order, Order No. 7. Just for completeness.

The Disaster Risk Management (Enforcement Measures) (No. 7) (Amendment) Order 2020 – June 1 2020