Denmark
1. Legal Gazette
1.1. Overview
Lovtidende
Legal Journal
Published by:
Civilstyrelsen
(The Department of Civil Affairs)
Toldboden 2, 2 — 8800 Viborg
Denmark
Tel. +45 33923334
E-mail: civilstyrelsen@civilstyrelsen.dk
Websites: http://www.civilstyrelsen.dk / http://www.lovtidende.dk
| Official journal / legal gazette |
There are distinct official publications for primary/secondary legislation (Lovtidende) and for sub-legislative norms (Ministerialtidende), which are the legal gazettes, and Statstidende, which is the official gazette, see point 1.2 for details. |
| First edition |
The first paper edition was published on 4 January 1871, whereas the new electronic edition (of the now paperless legal gazette) has been available since 1 January 2008. |
| First online edition |
The legally binding online edition has existed since 1 January 2008. Previously, no electronic legal gazette had been published, but the texts have been available online since the mid-1980s via the legal information system Retsinformation (see point 3.2). Ministerialtidende has been online since 1998 via the same website (https://www.retsinformation.dk).As of 1 January 2013, Ministerialtidende is no longer operative although, year 2008 through 2012 are still available. |
| Paper edition |
Lovtidende
A paper edition is no longer published. |
| Online edition |
http://www.lovtidende.dk
Available texts
PDF from 1 January 2008
Access and price
Free
Legally binding |
| CD/DVD edition |
No CD/DVD edition |
1.2. Details on the legal gazette in general
| Content |
- Lovtidende A: acts, consolidated acts, statutory orders
- Lovtidende B: the state budget
- Lovtidende C: treaties
- Ministerialtidende (Ministerial Journal): circulars, statements, and guidance on the internal operations of the ministries
|
|
Legal basis
|
Law on the publishing of a Legal Journal, see Legal announcement No 1098 of 10 August 2016.
(Lov om udgivelsen af en Lovtidende, jf. lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1098 af 10. august 2016.)
|
| Legally binding |
The electronic edition of the legal journal has been legally binding since 1 January 2008. Until 31 December 2007 the paper edition was legally binding. |
| Financing |
State budget |
| Other gazettes |
Statstidende (State journal) (https://www.statstidende.dk/) is the official gazette containing legal notices. |
1.3. Details on the online edition
http://www.lovtidende.dk
See also point 1.1
| Functionalities |
- Download
- Document notification system via e-mail
- Different indexes and search in title, number and year
|
| Format description |
PDF |
| Authenticity |
The measures used to guarantee the integrity of the workflow and the authenticity of the (electronically) published text include a chain of trust, the digital and server signature, SLL protocol and other systems (see also point 1.5). |
| Archiving |
The publishing organisation has taken care of archiving since 1 January 2008. The archiving of electronic legislation/electronic official texts in general is regulated by Law announcement No 1201 of 28 September 2016 on the archive law (Lovbekendtgørelse nr. 1201 af 28. september 2016 — Gældende bekendtgørelse af arkivloven (arkivloven)). This law concerns public archives, but not specifically electronic archives. |
1.4. Details on the publishing institution
Civilstyrelsen
(The Department of Civil Affairs)
For contact details, please refer to point 1.1
| Form and nature |
Public: the Department of Civil Affairs is part of the Ministry of Justice. |
| Basic tasks |
- Pre-press: no
- Printing: no
- Dissemination/distribution: no
- Legal gazette online: yes
- Legislation database: yes
- Consolidation: no
|
| Other services offered |
Retsinformation informs the authorities of practical issues related to the publication of laws in the official journal, and serves as a helpdesk for the production system. Retsinformation helps citizens as far as possible with questions related to the publication of acts and the use of the databases, but gives no legal advice on the content of laws and regulations (which falls under the remit of the relevant ministry). |
1.5. Drafting and publishing procedures
Text processing
systems |
Since 24 September 2007, a system named Lex Dania has been used for drafting legislation (for both primary and secondary legislation). In 2015, an editor for Lex Dania called Eunomia was introduced in which all drafting is done. Lex Dania carries out validation, transformation and styling. Output: XML, PDF and HTML. |
| Workflow |
A single electronic workflow system is in place for drafting, adopting and publishing legislation. |
| Publishing |
- Electronic edition (legally binding since 1 January 2008).
- The text can be made available online within 10 minutes after reception by the publishing organisation.
- The relevant ministry was responsible for proofreading and editing.
- The paper edition existed until 31 December 2007.
- The paper and electronic editions were derived from the same file and published at the same time (until December 2007).
- The minimum period between the reception of the draft by the publishing organisation and availability of the text is about one day.
|
2. Collections of consolidated Legislation
See full details >>
There is no systematic consolidation of legislation. However, the legal gazette publishes primary legislation in its original form (i.e. amending acts separately) as well as in an official ‘restatement’ (published in the form of a Lovbekendtgørelse) under the responsibility of the competent ministries. Each ministry is therefore responsible for the consolidation of its own acts.
3. Legislative portals and online databases
3.1. Official portals
3.2. Official databases
For the Lovtidende online, see point 1.3
Retsinformation
(Legal information)
http://www.retsinformation.dk
Organisation
responsible |
Civilstyrelsen
(see point 1.4) |
| Content |
Primary and secondary legislation, established by ministries and other state bodies, acts of parliament, bills of parliament and other parliamentary documents. |
| Access |
Free of charge |
Access via N-Lex
(see Annex 2) |
Yes |
3.3. Additional information: other commonly used legal databases
