Office of the Registrar of Regulations
The Office of the Registrar of Regulations ('Registry of Regulations') is the central government office responsible for Nova Scotia's regulations. Our office's mandate is to ensure that Nova Scotia's regulations are accessible to those who are governed by them. The office files, indexes, consolidates and publishes the Province's regulations. The office also reviews draft regulations to ensure they meet legislative drafting and plain legal language standards. The duties and powers of the office are set out in the Regulations Act.
On this site you will find the full text of most of the regulations that we have on file. Some regulations are not available in electronic format. The regulations on this site are consolidations prepared by the Office of the Registrar of Regulations and are unofficial (see disclaimer). Regulations can also be ordered from our office in hard copy or in electronic format, if available.
The mandate of the Office of the Registrar of Regulations is to ensure that Nova Scotia's regulations are accessible to the people of Nova Scotia.
It fulfills this mandate by:
The primary function of the Legislature is to make laws. Laws made by the Legislature are in the form of statutes. (In Nova Scotia, the Office of the Legislative Counsel is responsible for statutes.)
Laws made by officials who are delegated the legislative power to make laws under the authority of a statute are called regulations.
The officials delegated the power to make regulations are usually:
Draft regulations from all government departments are submitted to be reviewed and approved by the office's specialized editors. The editors review, analyze and often re-write the text to ensure that the laws are expressed in as simple and straightforward language as possible, without compromising the legal effect of the text.
Once a regulation is made, it is filed with the Registrar, given an N.S. Regulations number and published in the bi-weekly issue of the Royal Gazette Part II. The regulation is then consolidated together with all other amendments to the original regulations and published online. The office also maintains a detailed legislative history of each set of regulations, broken down by provision. Approximately 300-400 regulations are filed with the office annually.
Since 1996, the office has also been responsible for publishing the Royal Gazette Part I, which is the official weekly government record of Cabinet proclamations, Orders in Council, and notices made under Provincial statutes. Under subsection 17(2) of the Communications and Information Act, all advertisements, notices or publications required by law to be published by government must be published in the Royal Gazette unless some other mode of publishing is directed by law.
Our office consists of 5 staff: the Registrar, Deputy Registrar, 1 Legistics Analyst/Editor, and 2 Regulations Publication Officers.
The Office of the Registrar of Regulations was created in 1977 by the Regulations Act (R.S.N.S 1989, Chapter 393), and is part of the Legal Services Division of the Department of Justice.
Sometimes, instead of making law itself, the Legislature delegates its law-making power to someone else. This "delegated legislation" is most often called "regulations". Regulations are laws. They outline rights, and create duties, obligations and responsibilities for the persons that are affected by them. They have the same binding legal effect as statutes (see below), and can only be made by persons or bodies to whom the Legislature has delegated its law-making power. Most often this authority to make legislation is delegated to the Governor in Council (the Lieutenant Governor acting on the advice of cabinet), a minister, or an administrative body or agency.
Regulations must be filed with the Registrar of Regulations and published in the Royal Gazette Part II.
Statutes (or "Acts", as they are often called) are laws made directly by the Legislature, which consists of the Lieutenant Governor and the House of Assembly. A statute is a bill (proposed law) that has been debated and passed by the members of the House of Assembly and then granted Royal Assent—which is when it becomes law. Go to the Legislative Counsel website for the text of Nova Scotia's statutes or bills.
Please note: The Office of the Registrar of Regulations publishes regulations only.
Details about the base regulation and all amendments are noted in the consolidation as follows:
if consolidated before 2018: in a note beneath the amended provision
if consolidated 2018 or later: in a reference table appended to the consolidation.
Please note that our consolidations are unofficial. The official text of the law is contained in the Orders or Orders in Council the consolidations are prepared from.
Topics on this page:
The original regulation number and the latest amending regulation number are always found at the beginning of our consolidations:
Hypothetical Regulations
made under Section 100 of the
Hypothetical Act
S.N.S. 1990, c. 100
O.I.C. 2010-1 (effective January 1, 2010), N.S. Reg. 1/2010
as amended to O.I.C. 2016-123 (effective July 1, 2016), N.S. Reg. 75/2016
Thus, the Hypothetical Regulations originated with the base regulation N.S. Reg. 1/2010 and are consolidated up to N.S. Reg. 75/2016, with the dates indicating the date the regulations come into force*. “As amended to” indicates that the regulation has been amended, and the N.S. reg. number listed is the most recent amendment included in the consolidation.
(*Note: for regulations consolidated before 2018, the heading indicates the date the regulation was made and, if the effective date is different, the effective date.)
O.I.C. means Order in Council—an order of the Governor in Council.
N.S. Reg. means Nova Scotia Regulation—followed by the regulation number assigned by the Office of the Registrar of Regulations.
Inline notations are placed immediately after the provision that is affected by the change, and specify what was changed, along with the O.I.C. and N.S. Reg. number for the amendment.
Suppose that our Hypothetical Regulations are amended to change the wording of Section 3, replace Section 6 and repeal clause 11(2)(c). The consolidation would show the amended Section 3 and the new Section 6 and delete clause 11(2)(c). The legislative notations would set out the details about the amendments, as follows:
3 This is hypothetical Section 3, which has been amended.
Section 3 amended: O.I.C. 2016-123, N.S. Reg. 75/2016.
6 This is hypothetical Section 6, which has been replaced.
Section 6 replaced: O.I.C. 2016-123, N.S. Reg. 75/2016.
(Inline note indicating the repeal of clause 11(2)(c))
Clause 11(2)(c) repealed: O.I.C. 2016-123, N.S. Reg. 75/2016.
Reference tables appended to a consolidation consist of several tables setting out the legislative history of the consolidation. Deleting the inline legislative history notations means that the text is no longer broken up or cluttered with notations, making it more readable. The reference tables not only take the place of these history notations, but also collect much more information about the regulations in one place.
Source Law table: lists the base regulation and each amendment to the base regulation, setting out its N.S. Reg. number, when and how it came into force, and its publication date in the Royal Gazette Part 2. This table also includes future amendments that have been registered with the office, but are not yet included in the consolidation.
Amendments by provision table: shows details for each amendment, listed in numerical order according to the numbers of the provisions of the regulations that are amended. This information is similar to the information previously recorded in the Sectional Index to the Royal Gazette Part II (no longer published).
Editorial notes and corrections table: lists any editorial notes and corrections related to the consolidation, such as changes made by statute that affect the regulations, changes to the administering department, or comments or explanations for information in other tables. Many of these types of comments were previously found inline in the text in pre-2018 consolidations.
Repealed and superseded table: lists the base regulation of any previous regulations that the current consolidation replaces.
For our Hypothetical Regulations, the first two tables in the reference tables would look like this:
Source Law
The current consolidation of the Hypothetical Regulations made under the Hypothetical Act includes all of the following regulations:
N.S. |
In force |
How in force |
Royal Gazette |
1/2010 |
Jan1, 2010 |
date specified |
Jan 15, 2010 |
75/2016 |
Jul 1, 2016 |
date specified |
Jul 8, 2016 |
|
|
|
|
Amendments by Provision
|
am. = amended |
fc. = fee change ra. = reassigned |
rep.=repealed rs. = repealed and substituted |
Provision affected |
How affected |
|
3............................................ |
am.75/2016 |
|
6............................................ |
rs.75/2016 |
|
11(2)(c).................................. |
rep. 75/2016 |
|
(For more information about consolidations and reference tables, check out “The Office of the Registrar of Regulations: An Overview of its Role, Practices and Procedures.)
The full text of most of Nova Scotia's regulations are available online. If the regulations are available online, you will see a link to the online version next to the name of the regulations in the Regulations by Act index.
Not included are:
If there is no online version of the regulations you require, or you want a copy of the paper document, you can order copies from us, or view the regulations at a public library or our offices.
New regulation numbers are entered into the Regulations by Act index within 24 hours of filing at the Office of the Registrar of Regulations. The full text of the new or amended regulations is uploaded later, within 2 weeks of publication in the Royal Gazette Part II. When we enter the new regulation information, we place a note under the regulation listing indicating the update until the full-text version of the new regulations or consolidation is available.
Formatting of the HTML versions of the regulations may differ from that of the official, printed versions. If the text is flush-left without indentation, it may be more difficult to follow. Our Style and Procedures Manual contains information on the numbering and lettering system used for regulations.
Please let us know if you encounter any difficulties in viewing this site.
Every set of regulations reproduced on this site contains the following disclaimer, which must not be removed:
This consolidation is unofficial and is for reference only. For the official version of the regulations, consult the original documents on file with the Office of the Registrar of Regulations, or refer to the Royal Gazette Part II.
Regulations are amended frequently. Please check the list of Regulations by Act to see if there are any recent amendments to these regulations filed with our office that are not yet included in this consolidation.
Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this electronic version, the Office of the Registrar of Regulations assumes no responsibility for any discrepancies that may have resulted from reformatting.
This electronic version is copyright © [year], Province of Nova Scotia, all rights reserved. It is for your personal use and may not be copied for the purposes of resale in this or any other form.
The Royal Gazette is an official publication of the Province of Nova Scotia. In 1977, Part II of the Royal Gazette began publication of all regulations filed with the Registrar of Regulations. The main purpose of the Royal Gazette is to notify the public of the law. Publication of a regulation in the Royal Gazette is prima facie proof of its text and that it was properly made, approved, and filed (see subsection 9(1) of the Regulations Act).
The Royal Gazette Part II is issued every other week on Fridays, and, since 2023, is available online in digital print only. Issues can be viewed for free on our website at Royal Gazette Part II Issues. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday of the week before the issue date. The schedule of publication dates is available here: Royal Gazette Part II - 2026 submission deadlines and publication dates.
The Royal Gazette Part I began as the Halifax Gazette, Canada's first newspaper, and continues to this day as the Province's official weekly government record of proclamations and other statutory notices.
In May of 1996, the Office of the Royal Gazette Part I joined with the Office of the Registrar of Regulations, which is responsible for the publication of the Royal Gazette Part II - Regulations.The Royal Gazette Part I is issued Wednesday of every week and, since 2023, is available online in digital print only.
Over 260 years ago, in September of 1751, Bartholomew Green Jr., the grandson of the man who printed the first American newspaper, came to Halifax from Boston and set up a print shop on Grafton Street. Unfortunately for Green, he took ill and died four months later at the age of 52. Upon news of his death, John Bushell, Green's former partner, sailed for Halifax and immediately assumed management of the new enterprise. Bushell arrived about the end of January and, on Monday, March 23rd, 1752, he published the very first issue of the Halifax Gazette, recognized as Canada's first newspaper.
So far as it is known, the Halifax paper is also the 3rd oldest on the North American continent. Authoritative sources agree that the earliest newspaper in the American colonies was "Publick Occurences" published on September 25, 1690. The 2nd newspaper was the "News-Letter" of Boston, published from 1704 to 1776 (founded by Green's father). The 2nd Canadian newspaper did not make an appearance until more than 10 years after the Halifax Gazette, when the "Quebec Gazette" was published in June of 1764. The Halifax Gazette began as a small newspaper, merely a half sheet containing European news, some local items and advertising-- but official government notices were the mainstay of the business. The original newspaper had a wood-cut on the right side of the title representing a fowler pursuing game, and on the left was shown a ship under full sail. (View images of the first issue of the Halifax Gazette on the Nova Scotia Archives website: https://archives.novascotia.ca/gazette/.)
The Halifax Gazette continues in existence today. The paper was published under various names over the years, including: the Nova-Scotia Gazette and the Weekly Chronicle, and the Royal Gazette and Nova Scotia Advertiser under the first printer to be appointed as "King's Printer" for Nova Scotia in 1788, Anthony Henry, and then as simply the Nova Scotia Royal Gazette under his successor, John Howe (father to Joseph) in 1801. The Nova Scotia Royal Gazette received official sanction as the government's newspaper. With its roots in the Oxford Gazette (now the London Gazette), this official sanction ensured that the publication was more than the mere "scurrilous gossip and rumour" that these commonwealth gazette publications had emerged as an alternative to, and also served to provide the government of the day with a measure of control over the tone and content of the newspaper contents.
The current Royal Gazette is still the official government publication for proclamations and all legal notices made pursuant to statute, and still bears the "Royal Gazette" wordmark and the Province's coat of arms (the oldest coat of arms of any province or territory, dating back to 1625). In 1977 Part II of the Royal Gazette was created to publish regulations made pursuant to the Province's Statutes. Until 2022, the Gazette was still published under authority of the King's Printer. Since May of 1996, the two Parts of the Royal Gazette have been reunited in the Office of the Registrar of Regulations, Department of Justice.
In 2022, the Gazette celebrated 270 years of publication. Part II of the Gazette celebrated 45 years of publication that same year. The same year also saw both print and electronic versions of the Gazette recognized as offical, as published under the authority of the Attorney General. (See amendments to legislation made by S.N.S. 2022, c. 54, "An Act to Amend Chapter 393 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Regulations Act".)
Not bad for a newspaper that began publication printed on a single half-sheet of paper.
On June 20, 2002, Library and Archives Canada announced the acquisition of the first issue of the Halifax Gazette from the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston. It is the oldest Canadian item in Library and Archives Canada's rare book collection.
Nova Scotia Archives: Halifax Gazette - Canada's First Newspaper
Library and Archives Canada, Engine of Immortality: Canadian Newspapers from 1752 until today, including a scanned image of the original issue of the Halifax Gazette, and featuring articles like:
"The Founding of Halifax and the Halifax Gazette, 1749-1753", by Ronald Rompkey, which puts the beginnings of news publication in Halifax into an historical context
"Hebert Jefferie—First Canadian Printer?", by Douglas G. Lochhead which poses the question of what ever happened to Jefferie, a "printer" who arrived in Halifax in 1749 with Cornwallis
"The First Newspaper Published in Canada", by Beauséjour, which disputes the Halifax Gazette as the first Canadian newspaper, because Nova Scotia was not yet a Canadian province
"Canadian Newspapers Celebrate 250 Years", by Stephen Kimber (National Library of Canada Bulletin 2002, Vol 34, no. 2), in which Kimber exposes the newspapers humble, and unlikely, beginnings.
"Canada's Oldest Newspaper Finds Its New Home at the National Library of Canada", a National Library of Canada News Release - June 20, 2002, announcing the acquisition of the first issue of the Halifax Gazette from the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston. (News release no longer available online.)
"Foreign Intelligence", a list of related links compiled by the National Library including links to an article entitled "The First Nova Scotia Newspapers" (from the Yarmouth Herald, August 30, 1883), an article entitled "The Oldest Newspaper in North America" from the Morning Chronicle, Halifax, January 1, 1914) and excerpts from "History of Printing in America" by Isaiah Thomas (2nd Edition, 1874) (see link entitled "The Oldest Newspaper in Canada").
Biographies of Anthony Henry and John Howe (father to Joseph Howe), the first King's Printers for Nova Scotia: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/henry_anthony_4E.html and http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/howe_john_6E.html
Bishop, Olga Bernice, Publications of the Governments of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick 1758-1952. Ottawa : National Library of Canada / Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1957