00:00A bill aimed at modernizing access to the nation's laws was brought before the Senate this afternoon.
00:07The proposed legislation would allow the online version of Trinidad and Tobago's laws to be recognized as the official version,
00:15making them easier to access and update.
00:18Legal Affairs Minister Saddam Hussein, in piloting the bill, said the move reflects the realities of the digital age and
00:25would improve efficiency across the legal system.
00:28We are just going to make the laws of Trinidad and Tobago be made available online as official versions of
00:37the law.
00:38Mr. President, I could say that and take my seat and I know I can get the support of this
00:41house.
00:42He stressed the proposed efficiency.
00:44These are the official versions of the law.
00:48These are the official versions of the law.
00:50It must be in a written format, printed, bound and placed in these binders.
00:58These are the official versions of the law.
01:00Everyone has a smartphone, which is probably one quarter of the size of this, and it's extremely lighter than this.
01:10So what we are doing, Mr. President, is taking a progressive step by encouraging persons to now go paper-based,
01:19moving away from the paper-based environment into electronic digital environment.
01:24So these very critical but simple amendments, Mr. President, would fundamentally impact our justice system.
01:33Hussein says the change would make it easier for parliamentarians, attorneys and members of the public to access up-to
01:40-date legislation,
01:41including amendments, as one consolidated piece.
01:45However, we are now in a digital age, and the way citizens, businesses, legal practitioners, courts, public institutions access the
01:55law has significantly evolved.
01:57Online platforms provide the average citizen with free access to timely information at their fingertips.
02:04Today, for the first and often only port of call for anyone seeking to know the law is the internet.
02:10He added the measure could also result in significant cost savings for the state.
02:16But do you know our laws are printed abroad?
02:21Our laws are not printed locally.
02:23Our laws are printed abroad.
02:26Mr. President, as Minister, I gave a direction to the Law Revision Commission
02:30that when we are printing written versions of the law, which will coincide with the online version,
02:38ensure that it is printed locally.
02:41According to the minister, printing the five versions of the 2006 revised edition of the laws cost the government approximately
02:49$20 million.
02:51This simple amendment could save the taxpayers several millions of dollars.
02:58Because all of the practicing attorneys in this esteemed chamber, Mr. President,
03:03they use these red binders as decoration, you know.
03:07It's where lawyers go in front of, take their official picture and post it online or share it with their
03:15friends and family.
03:16No one uses these red books.
03:18But Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi says while he supports greater public access to the laws,
03:24the bill still requires amendments.
03:27Making it available to the public, we do so by our website,
03:33but we do not fix the problem in Section 21 and 22, which requires the printed versions for the errors.
03:40So you have to fix 21 and 22 of the parent law by amending Section 5 of the Parent Act.
03:48He argued that provisions within the legislation may still restrict how quickly updates to the consolidated laws can be made.
03:57Section 9 says you can only in special circumstances appoint a date other than the revision date
04:06for a particular written law specified.
04:10So if you really want the ability to amend the laws immediately after we've consolidated an act,
04:15amended an act, we consolidated it, and you proclaim it,
04:19then you have to amend Section 9 of the Parent Act.
04:22So all you're removing is the words in special circumstances.
04:27That will allow you, without fetter,
04:31the ability to immediately update the laws by the publication of consolidated laws.
04:36Urvashi Tamwari Ruknarain, TV6 News.
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