Consolidated Acts

When the federal government makes changes to Canadian law, often it will create "amending" Acts or regulations. These amending documents make changes to existing laws. For example, if the government wishes to add a new offence to the Criminal Code, it will not rewrite the entire document or create a new, separate Code, but will create an amending Act. The amending Act will add new sections or make changes to existing sections of the Criminal Code. A consolidated Act or regulation is one that has been updated and incorporates the amendments into the original text.

As of June 1, 2009, all consolidated Acts and regulations on the Justice Laws Website are "official", meaning that they can be used for evidentiary purposes. This is the result of the coming into force on that date of amendments made to the Statute Revision Act, which has been renamed the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act. For more information see the Important Note page and section 31 of the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act.

The Justice Laws Website publishes the text of Acts and regulations as enacted, including any provisions relating to fees. Certain Acts or regulations, such as the Service Fees Act, provide for the automatic adjustment of fee amounts following enactment. The text of Acts and regulations on the Justice Laws Website do not reflect fee amounts resulting from those automatic adjustments.

The current amount of a specific fee may be confirmed by consulting the website of federal authority that imposes the fee.