After 195 years, Staatsblad and Staatscourant disappear

No law or decree has ever been valid in this kingdom until after publication in the Staatsblad (laws) or Staatscourant (other government decisions with the force of law). That is, until July 1st of this year, when the paper editions of Staatsblad and Staatscourant were abandoned and a law came into force that allowed electronic publication of laws and decrees.

The Staatscourant was founded by the first Dutch King, Willem I, in 1814. Volkskrant reports that the king wasn’t shy of using this formal publication for political purposes, especially since it could compete cheaply with commercial newspapers.

With the official publications now taken care of by a website, bekendmaking.nl, Staatscourant and Staatsblad publisher SDU will continue with a printed weekly called SC that will focus on commentary on laws.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 11:37 am and is filed under General, History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: law, newspapers, SDU, Staatsblad, Staatscourant