New Gazette plans for Guernsey's official notices

Wednesday 05 October 2022

The Guernsey Press could lose one of its last monopolies among the local media if the States agree to publish the island's official notices itself, rather than by paying the paper to do so.

La Gazette Officielle is used to publicise things like elections, rates, dates for dog tax to be paid and other parochial matters.

It also reports businesses which have been placed into administration and is used to trace relatives of those who have died without a will.

Pictured: The Gazette Officielle is published daily in the printed Guernsey Press and online.

Historically, the Gazette Officielle was a private business, which has operated since the 19th century "providing a public service in terms of notifications of certain official information".

In 1965 the Guernsey Press took over the Gazette Officielle as part of its business and it has run it ever since.

Now, the States Policy and Resources Committee has said that monopoly needs to come to an end

"The current legislation provides a guaranteed revenue stream for the Guernsey Press created by a States of Guernsey-supported monopoly.

"A free and independent media is crucial to any democracy and the Committee’s support for that principle remains absolute, with the Committee also recognising the importance of local media including a local newspaper.

"However, the Committee sees no strong case for the States to support the continuation of a policy that provides a monopoly to one company and supports the liberalisation of the market."

Pictured: The States own website links to the Press website rather than hosting the notices itself.

P&R is now suggesting that the States brings the official notices in-house.

It wants to create a section on its existing gov.gg website where the notices will be hosted, and then any media outlet or other third party can share them if they wish.

P&R estimates it would cost around £15,000 to create the web page and that any running costs would be absorbed into the running costs of the States website as it is.

By contrast, it currently costs the ten parishes around £60,000 a year to advertise elections, parish rates, and other parochial matters via La Gazette Officielle. States Committees pay around £13,000 annually to use it.

P&R said cost isn't the only reason for change though.

"There are a number of reasons to support the establishment of an online States’ Gazette at this time, including to recognise the increase in digitalised services and internet access in the community; to reduce publication costs; and also to expand the choice of options available for publishers."

P&R also said further changes may be made to the system in the future, if the States agree to this change now.

"The new approach will ensure that notices are publicly available and accessible and that the approach to the publication of official notices can evolve over time with the development of new communication technologies."

Pictured: The latest Gazette notices shared by Bailiwick Express in Jersey.

A similar change was made to the Jersey version of La Gazette Officielle in Jersey some years ago.

Previously, the Jersey Evening Post was the sole outlet for official notices. That monopoly was removed and now any media can share posts which are originally published via the States of Jersey website.

Pictured: Channel 103 shares the Gazette notices for Jersey too.

The States will be asked to revoke the historic law, creating a monopoly to official information shared via La Gazette Officielle, at a future States meeting, likely to be late this year or early next year.