Difference between revisions of "Preparation Tasks/Identify Effects"
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For information about how to identify blanket amendments, see [[Editorial_Principles#Blanket_Amendments | <strong>Editorial Principles - Blanket Amendments</strong>]]. | For information about how to identify blanket amendments, see [[Editorial_Principles#Blanket_Amendments | <strong>Editorial Principles - Blanket Amendments</strong>]]. | ||
| − | ===Savings and transitional provisions=== | + | ===Marking-up Savings and transitional provisions=== |
Savings and transitional provisions for effects can be marked-up at the level of individual effects. However, it is usually faster and more effective to mark-up an entire affecting document’s savings and transitional provisions for effects on the document’s front page, not least because one savings provision will often apply to multiple affecting provisions.For information about how to identify savings, see [[Editorial_Principles#Savings | <strong>Editorial Principles - Savings</strong>]]. | Savings and transitional provisions for effects can be marked-up at the level of individual effects. However, it is usually faster and more effective to mark-up an entire affecting document’s savings and transitional provisions for effects on the document’s front page, not least because one savings provision will often apply to multiple affecting provisions.For information about how to identify savings, see [[Editorial_Principles#Savings | <strong>Editorial Principles - Savings</strong>]]. | ||
Revision as of 13:52, 21 October 2020
Identify Effects tasks - Electronic mark-up of new items of legislation
How to use Adobe Acrobat Reader
Mark-up for Identify Effects tasks is done using Adobe Acrobat Reader. For information on how to set-up and operate Adobe Acrobat Reader to carry out Identify Effects tasks, click through to the “Adobe Acrobat Reader for mark-up” wiki page.
Identify Effects to prepare for i) Initial Edit and ii) Record Effects
Identify Effects tasks consist of marking-up PDFs of new legislation. Identify Effects tasks are done for two purposes:
One purpose of Identify Effects tasks is to prepare for marked-up documents’ Initial Edit tasks. Initial Edit tasks (and their review) make first revised versions of documents. Making first revised versions involves tagging the provisions of original versions with geographic extents and commencement (start) dates, and tagging provisions that confer legislative powers and/or make blanket amendments as such.
The other purpose of Identify Effects tasks is to prepare for marked-up documents’ Record Effects tasks. Record Effects tasks record the legislative effects that emanate from new pieces of legislation. Here is what a marked-up document looks like:
Workflow: Identify Effects → Record Effects and Initial Edit
The vast majority of Statutory Instruments go through a workflow that differs from that of Acts and some of the more complex Statutory Instruments.
Statutory Instruments
For the vast majority of new Statutory Instruments, the editor who does the Identify Effects task will also do the Record Effects task, and will not submit the Identify Effects task for review.
Recorded effects (from Record Effects tasks) are reviewed without review of mark-up (from Identify Effects tasks). That is not to say that review editors doing Record Effects Review tasks do not refer to marked-up documents from Identify Effects tasks.
Marked-up documents are also relied on by editors doing Initial Edit tasks and editors reviewing those tasks.
Acts and some complex Statutory Instruments
For new Acts, and very occasionally some complex Statutory Instruments, Identify Effects tasks are reviewed before Record Effects (and Initial Edit) tasks are done. In these cases it is therefore common for a document’s Identify Effects and Record Effects tasks to be done by different editors.
Mark-up in a way that can be i) read on paper and ii) understood by any other editor
Do not mark-up in a way that can be read only by using the Adobe Acrobat Reader application, or any other application. That is, mark-up in a way that can be read if the marked-up document is printed out.
Whenever marking-up, editors should do so such that any other editor can understand every annotation made by following the conventions described below.
GATE PDF versions of new legislation
GATE PDFs are generated with natural language processing routines that identify legislative effects. For Identify Effects tasks, editors usually mark-up GATE PDF versions of new pieces of legislation. Editors only mark-up Original (Queen’s Printer) PDF versions when GATE PDF versions are not available. In Identify Effects tasks, editors download GATE PDFs by selecting the download button for “Automatically Marked-up Legislation”.
On GATE PDFs, each effect that GATE identifies is annotated in a pink box, put directly below the provision or sub-provision that GATE identifies as the affecting provision or sub-provision. GATE PDFs largely resembles Original PDFs; the inserted pink boxes are the only significant difference. Here is what a GATE PDF pink box looks like:
Correcting a pink box annotation done by GATE
There are various ways to correct pink box annotations done by GATE.
- Draw a text box over the entire pink box and re-enter the entire annotation.
File:Mark up 03.png File:Mark up 04.png
When doing this, one will typically select the larger font text in the pink box; copy it; draw a new text box over the pink box; paste the copied annotation into the new text box; and then change the pasted-in annotation. Putting changes in bold is helpful for the Record Effects editor. This is because, what GATE puts into the pink boxes of its PDFs, it also puts into the rows of its spreadsheets (that Record Effects editors start their Record Effects tasks with). Putting changes in bold therefore helps Record Effects editors to see what elements of the GATE-identified records need to be changed on GATE spreadsheets.
- Draw a text box over a portion of an annotation in a pink box.
File:Mark up 03.png File:Mark up 05.png
When doing this, one does not need to correct the annotation text in the pink box that is repeated in a small font. The small-font text in the pink boxes can be ignored.
- Cross out unneeded incorrect text in a pink box.
File:Mark up 03.png File:Mark up 06.png
When doing this, one does not need to correct the annotation text in the pink box that is repeated in a small font. The small-font text in the pink boxes can be ignored.
- Cross out an entire pink box, when no amendment emanates from the provision.
Adding an annotation for an effect missed by GATE (or identified by GATE, but not at the correct affecting provision or sub-provision)
When an affecting provision is not annotated by GATE, draw a text box in a margin of the page adjacent to or nearby the affecting provision, and put the annotation in that text box.
The annotation must clearly identify the affecting provision, by including mention of the affecting provision in the text of the annotation, or by graphically associating the annotation with the affecting provision. Including mention of the affecting provision in the text of the annotation differs from GATE’s pink box style, which identifies affecting provisions or sub-provisions via placement of the pink boxes directly below affecting provisions or sub-provisions.
Adding an ‘affected legislation’ annotation for multiple effects where GATE has not identified any affected document
If GATE has not annotated an affected document for a series of amendments over a whole page, the affected document can be annotated at the top of the page. This is faster than adding to each pink box on a page, and just as effective.
Marking-up conferral of legislative powers
Users of legislation.gov.uk can see which whole provisions of documents confer legislative powers by viewing the ‘More Resources’ pages of documents that have gone through initial edit. The power-conferral information on the ‘More Resources’ pages of documents that have gone through initial edit is assembled using the “ConfersPower=“false”/“true”” tagging of whole provisions.
For information about how to identify the conferral of legislative powers, see Editorial Principles - Powers
When a legislative power is conferred by a new piece of legislation, how the power-conferring text is marked-up depends on whether the power-conferring text is within the text of an amendment, or not.
Mark-up of powers conferred by non-amendment text (in preparation for Initial Edit tasks)
Provisions of the document being marked-up that confer a legislative power, not emanating from text put into another piece of legislation by way of amendment but from non-amendment text, are marked-up with a circled “P”, in a margin next to the beginning of the whole provision that contains the power-conferring text.
Editors carrying out Initial Edit tasks for marked-up documents rely on such markings to know which whole provisions need to be tagged as conferring legislative powers. No elements more granular than whole provisions are tagged as conferring legislative powers.
That is why circled “P”s are put next to the beginning of the whole provision that contains the power-conferring text and not adjacent to the power-conferring text. For example, if a s. 2(15)(z) confers a legislative power, put a circled “P” next to the beginning of the s. 2.
The power-conferring text should be highlighted or otherwise drawn attention to, especially if it is very long and/or not immediately obvious.
Mark-up of powers conferred by amendment text (in preparation for Record Effects and Update tasks)
When amendment text — text put into another piece of legislation by way of amendment — confers a legislative power, mark-up a “P” in a square.
image
Exercise discretion as to where to put the “P” in a square for the following two reasons.
- The beginning of the whole provision that confers the power may not be in the (affecting) marked-up document, if the amendment text is only a portion of the amended provision.
- The “P” in a square must be clearly associated with the marked-up annotation describing the amendment that puts the new text in.
That is because, when amendment text confers a legislative power, the “ConfersPower=“false”/“true”” tagging of the (often newly) power conferring (amended) provision is done during an Update task.
The editor who does the Update task will rely on the recorded effect including a comment that says “Confers power”. For the editor who does the Record Effects task to know to put that “Confers power” comment into TOES, the mark-up of the (affecting) document should easily associate the “P” in a square with the annotation for the related amendment. Sometimes explicit mention of the power-conferral should be made in the marked-up annotation for the amendment, like when multiple provisions inserted by one amendment confer legislative powers. The power-conferring text should be highlighted or otherwise drawn attention to, especially if it is very long and/or not immediately obvious.
Marking-up blanket amendments
Users of legislation.gov.uk can also see which whole provisions of documents make blanket amendments, again, by viewing the ‘More Resources’ pages of documents that have gone through initial edit. The blanket amendment information on the ‘More Resources’ pages of documents that have gone through initial edit is assembled using the “BlanketAmendment=“false”/“true”” tagging of whole provisions.
The guidance above, about how to mark-up conferrals of legislative powers, can be applied to marking-up blanket amendments if references to “P”s in circles or squares are read as references to “B”s in circles or squares, etc. For information about how to identify blanket amendments, see Editorial Principles - Blanket Amendments.
Marking-up Savings and transitional provisions
Savings and transitional provisions for effects can be marked-up at the level of individual effects. However, it is usually faster and more effective to mark-up an entire affecting document’s savings and transitional provisions for effects on the document’s front page, not least because one savings provision will often apply to multiple affecting provisions.For information about how to identify savings, see Editorial Principles - Savings.
Front pages
Front page conventions are explained in the image below.
For Finance Acts, and possibly some other complex pieces of legislation, amendments may be in force at different dates to their amending provisions. Also, amendments may be in force on one date but "with effect" on, or "with application" to another date or period. In these cases, make two separate front-page-text-boxes for commencement. One for the Initial Edit editor, describing the coming into force of the marked-up document’s provisions, and another for the Record Effects editor, describing the commencement of the amendments by the marked-up document.
A similar occurrence, albeit simpler and more common, is when the provisions of a document have a (for example) U.K. extent, but their amendments are “co-extensive”. If the differing geographic extents can be clearly expressed in one text box, that is fine.
Review
Changes to marked-up documents done during Identify Effects Review tasks should be in green.