The Belgian Official Journal, which officially publishes new royal decrees, laws, decrees, orders, etc., had a record year in 2014, publishing no fewer than 107,270 pages. "That's 3,000 more than in 2013," said Wilfried Verrezen, Executive Adviser to the Belgian Official Journal, adding that it is rare to go over 100,000. It was already clear at the beginning of December that 2014 was going to be a record year. For the second year running, publications exceeded 100,000 pages, with 170,270 pages published in 2014 in comparison to 2013's 104,172, representing a 3% rise.
"If you look at publications over the years, you see that the number of pages skyrockets when there is a State reform that needs publishing," Mr. Verrezen pointed out.
In general, however, 2014 was much of a muchness with 2013, except for the elections, which also tend to result in the publication of a large number of pages.
2014, like 2013, saw a large number of publications in the Education field, with two editions over 4,700 pages. Translations of legal texts in German also took up more space than previously in the Official Journal. In addition, more than 40,000 pages were taken up by attachments announcing legal and other official messages. 2014's final edition, published on Wednesday, includes the royal decrees regarding retirement and pensions signed by King Philip when he got back from holiday on Tuesday.
The Belgian Official Journal has been published in electronic format only since 2003. All Belgians are expected to be aware of the Official Journal publications.
(Source: Belga)
