Publication of Laws of Pakistan Act, 2016

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THE PUBLICATION OF LAWS OF PAKISTAN ACT, 2016 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
_____________ 
 
 
1. Short title, extent, commencement and application 
 
2. Definitions 
 
3. Registration of publishers 
 
4. Exemption from registration 
 
5. Maintenance of laws of Pakistan 
 
6. Laws of Pakistan Cell 
 
7. Powers and functions of the Cell 
 
8. Review of publications 
 
9. [Omitted] 
 
10. [Omitted] 
 
11. Constitution of appellate committee 
 
12. [Omitted] 
 
13. Disclosure of interest 
 
14. Recovery of dues 
 
15. Duties of publishers and booksellers 
 
 
 
 

 
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16. Disclaimer by the publisher 
 
17. Translation of the laws of Pakistan 
 
18. De­registration 
 
19. Penalty 
 
20. Offences 
 
21. Violations and offences by legal persons 
 
22. Jurisdiction to try offences 
 
23. Appeal 
 
24. Bar of jurisdiction 
 
25. Power to make rules 
 
26.  Removal of difficulty 
 
26A.   Indemnity 
 
27. Validation of actions etc. 
 
 
 
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THE PUBLICATION OF LAWS OF PAKISTAN ACT, 2016 
 
ACT NO. XIII OF 2016 
 
[28th March, 2016] 
 
An Act to ensure publication of the text of the laws of Pakistan free from errors of 
reproduction, updating and printing 
 
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for publication of the text of the laws of Pakistan free 
from errors of reproduction, updating and printing and to deal with ancillary matters; 
 
AND WHEREAS the Provincial Assemblies of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and 
Sindh have passed Resolutions under Article 144 of the Constitution to the effect that Parliament may 
by law regulate the issue; 
 
It is hereby enacted as follows:— 
 
1. Short title, extent, commencement and application.—(1) This Act may be called the 
Publication of Laws of Pakistan Act, 2016, 
 
(2) It extends to the whole of Pakistan. 
 
(3) It shall come into force at once. 
 
(4) This Act shall not apply to publication of laws of Pakistan by the Federal Government, a 
Provincial Government, any House of Majlis­e­Shoora (Parliament) or a Provincial Assembly, but the 
Governments and Legislatures shall maintain internal checks in order to ensure accuracy of the laws 
published by them. 
 
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,— 
 
1[(a) “administrative department” means the department of the respective Provincial 
Government to which business of this Act in the provincial domain stands 
allocated; 
(aa) “administrative division” means the Division of the Federal Government to which 
business of this Act in the Federal domain stands allocated;] 
 
1[(ab)]  “bookseller” means a bookseller who predominantly sells law books, with or 
without commentary, containing laws of Pakistan; 
 
(b)  “Cell” means the Laws of Pakistan Cell 1[**] established under section 6: 
 
1[(ba) “Chairperson” means Chairperson of the concerned appellate Committee;] 
 
(c) 1[* * * * * * *] 
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1Added, re-lettered, omitted and ins. by Act No. XXIII of 2022, s. 2. 
 
 
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(d)  “law of Pakistan” means a law passed under the Constitution of the Islamic 
Republic of Pakistan, or by or under the authority of Majlis­e­Shoora 
(Parliament) or any of the Provincial Assemblies, which is published in the 
Gazette of Pakistan or Gazette of any Province and includes principal and 
subordinate legislation and any other statutory instrument which is published in 
the Gazette of Pakistan or Gazette of any Province: 
 
Provided that the commentary portion of any law of Pakistan and 
reproduction by photocopy or scanning of any law of Pakistan shall be out of 
the purview of this Act; 
 
1[(da) “member” means a member of the concerned appellate committee; 
 
(db) “person” shall have the same meaning as assigned thereto in section 11 of the 
Pakistan Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860);] 
(e)  “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act; 
 
(f)  “public sector organization” means a concerned ministry, division, department, 
attached department, statutory body or an autonomous body of the Federal 
Government under the Rules of Business, 1973, a department, statutory body, 
an attached department or autonomous body of a Provincial Government under 
Rules of Business of the respective Provincial Government, a local government 
and Supreme Court of Pakistan, Federal Shariat Court or a High Court to the 
extent of Rules and Orders published under the authority of the Supreme Court, 
Federal Shariat Court or a High Court; 
 
(g)  “publisher” means a natural person or a 1[legal] person who publishes or 
engages another publisher, within or outside Pakistan, for publishing any law of 
Pakistan in the form of a book, booklet, pamphlet, journal, or in any electronic 
form; and 
 
(h)  “reviewer” means a person who reviews a law of Pakistan under this Act. 
 
3. Registration of publishers.—(1) A publisher shall not publish any law of Pakistan unless,— 
 
(a)  he is registered with the Cell; 
 
(b)  his proposed publication is reviewed by the Cell; and 
 
(c)  the Cell has certified that his proposed publication is accurate and updated till 
the date of issuance of certificate 1[of accuracy]. 
 
(2) The Cell shall, on payment of prescribed fee and fulfillment of the prescribed conditions, 
register a publisher. 
 
 
________________________________________________________________________________ 
1Ins. and subs. by Act No. XXIII of 2022, ss. 2 and 3. 
  
 
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1[4.  Exemption from registration.—A public sector organization and legislature shall be 
exempt from registration under this Act but the head of the public sector organization or the secretary 
of the Senate or the National Assembly or a Provincial Assembly, as the case may be, shall ensure 
accuracy of the contents of a law of Pakistan published by the public sector organization or, as the case 
may be, a legislature.] 
 
1[5.  Maintenance of Laws of Pakistan.—The administrative division and each administrative 
department shall maintain authentic and updated version of laws of Pakistan relating to their respective 
domain in hard and soft form along with translation thereof at least in Urdu language and shall ensure 
safe custody thereof.] 
 
1[6. Laws of Pakistan Cel l.—There shall be in the administrative division and each 
administrative department a Laws of Pakistan Cell in their respective domain which shall consist of 
such officers and staff members to be appointed as civil servants under the respective laws made 
pursuant to Article 240 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for performance of their 
functions in accordance with the  provisions of this Act and the respective rule thereunder.] 
 
7. Powers and functions of the Cell.—The Cell shall,— 
 
(a)  register publishers of laws of Pakistan; 
 
(b)  regulate the publication of the standard translation of laws of Pakistan; 
 
(c)  review every proposed publication of a law of Pakistan; 
 
(d)  issue certificate of accuracy to the effect that the contents of a law of Pakistan 
submitted by a publisher are authentic, accurate and updated till date of such 
certification; 
 
(e)  seize any unauthorized publication of a law of Pakistan which contains errors 
and destroy the same if, in the opinion of the Cell, the errors cannot be rectified; 
 
(f)  impose 1[administrative penalty]  as provided in section 19; 
 
(g)  de­register a publisher or initiate prosecution under this Act; 
 
(h) ensure that, after the commencement of this Act, no bookseller sells any 
publication containing a law of Pakistan which does not bear certificate of 
accuracy; and 
 
(i)  perform any other function which is incidental to 1[aforesaid] functions or as 
may be prescribed. 
 
8. Review of publications.—(1) The Cell shall, on payment of a prescribed fee, review a 
proposed publication of a law of Pakistan submitted by a registered publisher and subject to rules, the 
Cell shall, within the maximum period of 1[three months] from the date of submission of publication 
or payment of full fee, whichever is later, complete the review, correct errors and issue certificate of 
accuracy of the publication as on a specified date: 
 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
1Subs. by Act No. XXIII of 2022, ss. 4-8. 
 
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  1[Provided that the administrative division or, as the case may be, the administrative department 
may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend in its respective domain the said period for further 
three months.]   
 
(2) If text of a publication of a law of Pakistan includes other material like commentary, the 
Cell shall only review the contents of the law of Pakistan and the certificate of accuracy shall also be 
construed to contain responsibility only to that extent. 
  
(3) After review of a publication, the Cell shall retain the authenticated copy of the publication 
in safe custody and shall, subject to payment of remaining fee, if any, provide a copy of the 
authenticated copy of the publication to publisher for publication. 
 
9.       1[Omitted] 
 
10.     1[Omitted] 
 
1[11. Constitution of appellate committee. —(1) The administrative division shall, by 
notification in the official Gazette, constitute an appellate committee consisting of the following for 
performance of its functions under this Act, including hearing appeals in its domain under section 23, 
namely:— 
 
S. No. Person appointed or nominated Status 
1. Secretary of the administrative division or his 
nominee not below the rank of joint secretary or 
equivalent 
Chairperson 
2. One representative from Printing Corporation of 
Pakistan Press not below the rank of deputy secretary 
or equivalent 
Member 
 
 
3. One representative from the Pakistan Publishers and 
Book Sellers Association  
Member 
4. One representative from National Archives of 
Pakistan not below the rank of deputy secretary or 
equivalent  
Member 
5. One representative from National Language 
Promotion Department not below the rank of deputy 
secretary or equivalent 
Member 
6. An officer of drafting and legislation wing of the 
administrative division not below the rank of deputy 
secretary or equivalent  
Member 
-cum- 
Secretary 
 
(2)  The administrative department may, by notification in the official Gazette, constitute an 
appellate committee for performance of its functions under this Act, including hearing appeals in its 
domain under section 23. 
 
(3)  The administrative division may increase or decrease the number of members of the 
appellate committee under sub-section (1) as it may deem fit.  
 
 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
1Subs. and omitted by Act No. XXIII of 2022, ss. 8-11. 
 
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 (4)  The appellate committee constituted under sub -section (1) or sub-section (2) may for the 
purpose of eliciting technical or expert view coopt any person for assistance without having any right 
to vote.  
 
(5)  Decision of majority members of the appella te committee constituted under sub -section 
(1) or, as the case may be, sub -section (2) present and voting shall be construed as decision of the 
concerned appellate committee.  
 
(6)  One -half of its total members shall constitute quorum for a meeting of the  concerned 
appellate committee and a fraction thereof shall be counted as one. 
 
(7)  In absence of the Chairperson, the concerned appellate committee shall nominate from 
amongst its members present a member to preside over the meeting.  
 
(8)  The meetings of the concerned appellate committee shall be convened and conducted as 
may be prescribed by respective rules.   
  
(9)  The administrative division or, as the case may be, the administrative department may issue 
guidelines to the Cell in its respective dom ain which shall be binding for corrective measures on 
efficient working of the Cell.] 
 
12. 1[Omitted] 
 
13. Disclosure of interest.—(1) If the Chairperson, 1[a member]  or any other employee, 
including an adviser, consultant, agent, actuary, valuator, lawyer, and auditor or the family of such a 
person has, direct or indirect interest in any matter relating to financial transactions of the Cell or 
1[appellate]  committee, such person shall forthwith disclose that interest and the Cell or, as the case 
may be, the 1[appellate]   committee, may take such action as it may consider appropriate. 
 
(2) Any person referred to in sub­section (1), if present in a meeting of the Cell or 1[appellate]   
committee, shall forthwith disclose his interest and 1[recuse]  himself from the meeting during the 
consideration of that matter. 
 
14. Recovery of dues.—Any amount due to the Cell may be recovered as arrears of land 
revenue by an officer 1[of the Cell authorized for this purpose by the administrative division or,  as the 
case may be, the administrative department ] and such officer shall exercise all powers of a collector 
for recovery of the amount due. 
 
15. Duties of publishers and booksellers.—(1) A publisher may print a law of Pakistan in 
off­set, photostat, photo­block or any other modern system of printing including uploading on website 
etc., but he shall not print it in litho process. 
 
(2) A publisher shall,— 
 
(a) 1[* * * * * * *] 
 
(b)  before submission to the Cell, get his specimen copy of the proposed publication 
of a law of Pakistan compared with the text of the Gazettes and official 
publication of laws of Pakistan, by a person 1[*******] trained in the job of 
proof reading of legal publications, and have a statement recorded in writing by 
 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
1Omitted and subs. by Act No. XXIII of 2022, ss. 12-15. 
 
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such a person that the contents of the laws of Pakistan reproduced in the 
publication do not contain any error; and 
 
(c)  ensure that the cover page of every edition or publication of a law of Pakistan 
clearly bears the name and registration number of the publisher, the batch 
number of the publication, the name of the 1[printing] or database operator, and 
the day, month and year till which it has been updated. 
 
(3) In addition to the duties specified in sub­section (2), the publisher shall, in case of laws of 
Pakistan published after the commencement of this Act, print the certificate of accuracy relating to that 
publication on the title page of that publication. 
 
1[(3A) The publisher shall be bound to publish within two months the updated version of law 
of Pakistan containing all the amendments in respect of which a certificate of accuracy has been issued 
by the Cell and where a subsequent amendment is made after issuance of the certificate of accuracy in 
the law of Pakistan, the publisher  shall be bound to seek within two  months of the  amendment fresh 
certificate of accuracy for publishing the updated law of Pakistan within two months after issuance of 
the fresh certificate of accuracy.] 
 
(4) A bookseller shall, after the commencement of this Act, return all publications containing 
a law of Pakistan, to the publisher for printing the certificate of accuracy thereon. 
 
(5) After the commencement of this Act, a bookseller shall ensure that each procurement of a 
publication containing a law of Pakistan must bear a certificate of accuracy. 
 
16. Disclaimer by the publisher.—Any disclaimer given by the publisher in his publication 
containing a law of Pakistan shall not exonerate him from the civil and criminal liability created under 
this Act. 
 
17. Translation of the laws of Pakistan.—(1) The Cell shall regulate the publication of 
translation of laws of Pakistan 2[in its respective domain] and issue guidelines, from time to time, for 
standard translation of laws of Pakistan in Urdu and other Provincial languages of Pakistan. 
 
(2) All the provisions applicable to the laws of Pakistan under this Act and the rules made 
thereunder shall, in so far as may be practicable, also apply to the translations of the laws of Pakistan 
and the publications thereof. 
 
18. De­registration.—(1) The Cell may, in the prescribed manner, de­register a publisher 
through an order specifying reasons for the order. 
 
(2) The Cell shall not pass an order of de­registration of a publisher unless the publisher has 
been served a notice and afforded an opportunity of hearing. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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1Subs. and ins. by Act No. XXIII of 2022, ss. 15-16. 
 
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 1[19.  Penalty.— (1) If a person publishes or sells a law of Pakistan in violation of all or any of 
the requirements under section 15, the Cell may, subject to notice and opportunity of hearing, direct 
the person to pay a penalty of an amount which may extend to fifty thousand rupees. 
 
(2)  In case of recurring breach as specified in sub­section (1), the person shall be subject to a 
penalty which may extend to one hundred thousand rupees.] 
 
20. Offences.—(1) Any person who publishes a law of Pakistan without registration under this 
Act shall be punished with 1[*******] fine which may extend to three hundred thousand rupees 
1[*******]. 
 
(2) Any person who publishes a law of Pakistan without obtaining review and certificate of 
accuracy under this Act shall be punished with 1[*******] fine which may extend to one hundred 
thousand rupees. 
 
 (3) 1[* * * * * * *] 
 
(4) All published copies of the laws of Pakistan, in respect of which the offence has been 
committed, shall be seized by the Cell. 
 
(5) The police shall act in aid of the Cell, as and when required by the Cell, for the purposes of 
this Act. 
 
21. Violations and offences by 1[legal] persons.—If a person 1[is found guilty] for a violation 
under section 19 or 1[is convicted for] an offence under section 20 is a company or other body corporate 
or a firm, every proprietor, director, general manager, secretary, partner or any other office bearer of 
the company or body corporate or firm 1[by whatever name called ,] shall, unless he proves that the 
violation or offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to 
prevent the violation or commission of the offence, be deemed to be accountable for such violation 
1[or] guilty of such offence. 
 
.22. Jurisdiction to try offences.—(1) Any 1[officer of the Cell with prior approva l of 
administrative division or, as the case may be , administrative department] may, in respect of the 
offence committed under section 20, lodge a complaint with the Magistrate 1[of the] First Class in 
whose jurisdiction the impugned publication has been published. 
 
(2) For any offence committed under section 20, the Magistrate 1[of the] First Class shall 
conduct a summary trial in accordance with the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 1[(Act 
V of 1898)]. 
 
23. Appeal.—Any person aggrieved by an order made by the Cell under section 19 may, within 
fifteen days of the date of receipt of the order, prefer an appeal to the 1[concerned appellate] committee 
and the decision of the 1[concerned appellate]  committee thereon shall be final. 
 
24. Bar of jurisdiction.—A civil court shall not entertain any suit or application against any 
proceedings before the Cell or 1[appellate] committee under this Act. 
 
 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
1Subs., omitted and ins. by Act No. XXIII of 2022, ss. 17-22. 
 
 
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1[25.  Power to make rules. —The administrative division and the administrative department 
may in their respective domain, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the 
purposes of this Act.] 
 
26. Removal of difficulty.—If any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of the provisions of 
this Act, the President may make an order, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, for the 
purposes of removing the difficulty. 
 
1[26A. Indemnity.⎯No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the 
Federal Government, the Provincial Governments, any officer of the Cell or any other person exercising 
any power or performing any function under this Act or the rules for anything which i s in good faith 
done or intended to be done under this Act or the rules made thereunder.] 
 
27. Validation of actions etc.—Anything done, actions taken, orders passed, instruments 
made, proceedings initiated, processes or communications issued, powers conferred, assumed, 
exercised by the Federal Government, Provincial Government, Cell or any of its officers, on and after 
the 29th November, 2015 and before the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have been 
validly done, made, issued, taken, initiated, conferred, assumed, and exercised and the provisions of 
this Act shall have, and shall be deemed always to have had, effect accordingly. 
 
 
 
_________________ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
RGN Date: 31-07-2024 
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1Subs. and ins. by Act No. XXIII of 2022, ss. 23 and 24.