The end of the printed St. Gallen Official Gazette is approaching
As early as 2012, the printed St. Gallen Official Gazette was slated to be discontinued for cost-saving reasons. However, it later turned out that the publication was actually generating a profit, and the plan was put on hold. Going forward, however, the content will be published on a digital platform.
The St. Gallen Official Gazette is around a hundred pages long. It is published weekly and is still printed in a print run of 4000 copies. There used to be considerably more. However, the days when every restaurant had to subscribe to the paper are long gone.
The content is rather dry fare: you can mainly read information from the canton or the cantonal council. There are also texts of decrees, ordinances and circulars. It also contains invitations to tender for public contracts, municipal projects and their objection deadlines, as well as payment orders and bankruptcy notices.
Everything online only
All of this should soon only be available on an electronic information platform that the canton is planning. However, this first requires the Cantonal Council to approve the new publication law. Consultation on this will begin in the coming April session.
The central point of the bill is that the electronic version of the collection of laws will be authoritative in future - and no longer the printed text as before. This would mean that there would no longer be a need for an official gazette and the canton could save on printing costs.
Official journal with profit
However, as early as 2012, during one of the canton's last cost-cutting packages, it became apparent that the official gazette was generating revenue on the bottom line. This is due to paid advertisements and advertisements from municipalities. At that time, the annual increase was around 280,000 francs. This has not changed since then, confirmed State Secretary Canisius Braun when asked by the SDA news agency.
The government's proposal also deals with costs. There, the surplus is put into perspective: A closer look reveals that the majority of the income is generated by allocations from other administrative offices. If this is not taken into account, the result is a cost surplus of CHF 170,000.
There are also savings for municipalities, which will also be able to publish their official advertisements on the cantonal platform in future. "This eliminates the need for publication in daily and weekly newspapers," writes the government.
However, advertising revenue is unlikely to be generated on the publication platform. This source of income is referred to in the proposal. However, the pre-advisory committee has requested that the service must do without advertising. (SDA)
