Editorial Update/Limited Extent Amendments
Limited extent amendments occur when the amendment to be applied has a narrower geographical extent (or territorial application) than that of the amended provision. We have to make sure that we don’t remove or replace text that still applies in other jurisdictions.
Whether or not an amendment is limited extent or not will have been established prior to update, through extent research. The editorial system will compare the affecting and affected extent when the update is allocated. Where a limited extent amendment is found a warning message will appear on the ‘Update Details’ page and the extents for the relevant amendments will appear in red.
XMetaL has special amendment options for limited extent amendments. These will produce slightly different results than for standard amendments. If you attempt to use the standard menu options when carrying out a limited extent amendment XMetaL will prompt you to use the Limited Extent Menu options.
Limited Extent Insertion: A limited extent insertion will look exactly the same as a standard insertion. The only difference is that the extent will be added to the XML. This information will be used by the website to identify the extent of the amendment. The annotation should include a reference to the extent.
Limited Extent Repeals:
Limited Extent Repeals will not result in the text being replaced by a dotted line. Instead the repeal text will be retained, enclosed by brackets and <repeal> tags, with a f-note reference appearing immediately after the opening bracket. As with insertions, the extent of the amendment will be added to the XML and the annotation should include reference to the extent.
Limited Extent Substitutions:
Limited Extent Substitutions will result in both the new and the old text being retained side by side. Both sets of text will be enclosed by brackets with a f-note reference appearing immediately after each opening bracket. The old text will be enclosed by <repeal> tags and the new <addition> tags. As with repeals and insertions, the extent will be added to the XML and the annotation should include reference to the extent.
We will be continuing to create concurrent versions for whole provision limited extent substitutions. This functionality is still be developed. If you need to apply a limited extent whole provision amendment please speak to your review editor.
Example
- Limited Extent, re-numbering of sub-paragraphs: 1992 c. 51, s. 10 This example also includes a good variety of other limited extent amendments.
Editing legislation with concurrent versions created for limited extent substitutions
Our old editorial practice was to create ‘concurrent versions’ (or ‘parallel texts’) for all limited extent substitutions. This involved splitting up a provision into multiple versions in order to show the text for different geographical extents, for example:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/84/section/18
On the new system we will only do this for whole section substitutions that are limited extent. All other amendments will be managed in a single version, unless the end result would be deemed confusing to the end user. If you think concurrent versions would be beneficial please seek advice from your review editor.
When the provision you are editing has existing concurrent versions: From time to time an amendment you are appling might hit a concurrent version.
When an amendment hits a concurrent version, (x2) or (x3) will appear next to the amendment on the Update Overview page and the Details Page to signify there are multiple versions in the data (the number will change depending on the number of versions).
All amendments to concurrent versions will be listed as high level amendments because they have to be edited from parent level:
On the Table of Contents any concurrent versions will be marked with an exclamation mark.
To edit check out from the parent level.
In XMetaL you will be presented with multiple versions of the provision in question. In this example there are two versions of s. 18, one for Scotland and one for E.W. A blue header will appear at the top of each provision to indicate which is which, as shown in the following example:
Note: you may have to carry out the amendment in more than one version, depending on the extent of the amendment. For example, if your amendment extends to E.W.S, and there are two versions(one for E.W. and one for S.) you will need to carry your amendment out in both versions. Equally if your amendment extends to Scotland only you need only carry it out in the Scotland version and you won't have to treat it as limited extent because that version only extends to Scotland.