endomorphosis/ipfs_antigua_barbuda_laws

Antigua and Barbuda Laws (laws.gov.ag / Official Gazette)

Research snapshot of official national legislation from laws.gov.ag / Official Gazette (gazette.laws.gov.ag) / Ministry of Justice & Legal Affairs.

Not legal advice. The official gazette / authentic source prevails over this corpus.

Snapshot

Field	Value
Snapshot date	2026-09-26
Coverage	catalog-backed incomplete
Source	laws.gov.ag / Official Gazette (gazette.laws.gov.ag) / Ministry of Justice & Legal Affairs
Collector	scrapers/collect_ag.py
Laws / instruments	3,265
Articles	69,064
Language	en
Jurisdiction	Antigua and Barbuda
License	ag-laws-official-texts

Contents

• data/laws.parquet — one row per instrument.
• data/articles.parquet — article/section rows for the same snapshot.
• scrapers/ — collect_ag.py (collector, splitter), _ag_catalog.py (official-source catalog), _ag_batch.py (Hub-aware batch runner), _ag_fix_v3.py / _ag_fix_v4.py / _ag_fix_v7.py (approved tip fixes), _ag_fix_v8.py / _ag_fix_v9_new.py / _ag_fix_v10_new.py / _ag_fix_v11_new.py / _ag_fix_v12_new.py / _ag_fix_v13_new.py / _ag_fix_v14_new.py (post-run fixes on new rows only), _ag_fix_v9.py (approved v9 tip retitle), _ag_fix_v11.py (the two approved v11 tip retitles), _ag_fix_v12.py (the four approved v12 tip retitles and the approved rights note on S.I. 2021 No. 81), _ag_fix_v13.py (the approved v13 tip changes: three retitles and one metadata note), _ag_fix_v14.py (the approved v14 tip changes: the Cap-27 compilation title with its contained orders, and 37 S.I.-heading rows recategorised SI), _ag_fix_v16.py / _ag_rot_v16.py (the approved v16 fix-only changes: '-dupN' article ids, upright re-OCR of the approved rotation pages, category and title fixes, notes), _ag_build_v14.py (build fix: whole Gazette issues and supplements named EO_/Sup_/…Gazette… are held as Gazette issues), _ag_rot.py / _ag_batch_v13.py (v13 page-rotation rule for new OCR'd documents: keep upright unless a rotation clearly wins on dictionary-word share; the batch runner otherwise unchanged), _ag_diskwatch.sh (5-second disk watchdog, 12,800 MiB floor, resumable pause), _ag_v11_supervise.sh / _ag_v12_supervise.sh / _ag_v13_supervise.sh (run supervisors: start or resume only with >= 13,800 MiB free, 3-hour wait limit), _ag_bigocr_v4.py (page-by-page OCR of two large scanned PDFs with memory and disk stops; since v6 the batch runner itself OCRs documents up to 200 pages), textlayer.py (garbled text-layer detector), ctrlchars.py / ctrl_audit.py (control characters), _bz_ocr_garbled.py (OCR noise-page filter), and the shared helpers common.py, world_lib.py, pdf_extract_lib.py, archive_fallbacks.py.
• MANIFEST.md — sizes, sha256, batch details, verification.

License / reuse

Official Antigua and Barbuda Gazette / laws.gov.ag texts; authentic Official Gazette / Government Printer prevails; not legal advice.

This dataset is not legal advice. The official source prevails.

Source

• https://laws.gov.ag/

Version

• v16 (ag_fix_v16, 2026-09-26), FIX-ONLY pack on v15: no new law, no law id or key changed; 269 tip rows changed in title, metadata_json (incl. category) or, for 10 rotation pages, text and article_count, with old values in metadata.history. Repeated article ids fixed: 12,242 ids in 1,365 laws got a deterministic '-dupN' suffix (first occurrence kept; old id in metadata.old_id); 0 repeated ids remain. 10 of the 11 approved sideways-OCR'd pages re-OCR'd upright and replaced (CAP-138 p.8 kept: not in the text); ' [SI]' added to 250 S.I. titles; S.I. 1997/43 -> SI; Friendly Societies (Amendment) Act 2014 -> ACT; S.I. 2021/94 retitled '... (No. 5) Order, 2021 [SI]'; misprint notes on 5 rows; cross-reference notes on the Pharmacy Regulations 2012 and Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas resolution Part 1 rows; 4 possible misses added to the print-pass list (MANIFEST print_pass_additions_v16). 3,265 laws (unchanged), 69,052 -> 69,064 articles (+12: the re-split of 4 rotation-fixed texts finds headings the sideways OCR had hidden).

• hub_tip_base: 0cd73a0dfedb9fbdf95cdb6efc3ea1bf6dd509f0 (v15: 3,265 laws / 69,052 articles)

• v15 (ag_catalog_v15, 2026-09-26), catalog pack on v14: no tip row, tip article or scraper changed. A read-only audit of the 361 catalog items the build had skipped as 'same instrument as a tip row' or by the non-legislation title filter found 61 wrongly skipped items (53 distinct instruments added here: 18 Revised Edition Cap subsidiary-legislation volumes that the build had keyed to the principal Cap rows, 30 S.I.s (Quarantine (Covid-19) Guidelines, Sentencing Guideline Compendia, Constituencies Boundaries Orders, PTSCR (No. 2) Order 2022, Civil Aviation (Communication Systems) Regulations 2024, Part 2 of the Pharmacy Regulations 2012 and of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas resolution, and others) and 5 Acts (ONDCP amendments 2017 and 2020, Borrowing Authorisation 2025 and 2026 Budget Acts, Magistrate's Code of Procedure (Amendment) Act 2024) - MANIFEST 'v15 skip audit - misses'); plus 3 Gazette-pass rows (S.I. 2020/60, S.I. 2021/86, S.I. 2017/35) and the PTSCR (Amendment) (No. 14) Order 2018 (printed as S.I. 2020 No. 45; own id and number key; numbering_conflict note). All open Gazette-pass entries closed (CoS D1/D3/D5; list kept for a future print pass). 3,208 -> 3,265 laws, 66,950 -> 69,052 articles.

• hub_tip_base: 5edb7eac56c0a8f339cff44a14369234e3db1251 (v14: 3,208 laws / 66,950 articles)

• v14 (ag_fix_v14 + ag_catalog_deepen_v13, 2026-09-26), the final catalog batch: CoS-approved changes to 38 tip rows (ids, texts and articles unchanged, old values in metadata.history): the Cap-27 row now titled 'Work Permit (Fees) Order 1980; Minimum (Basic Wage) Order 1981 (S.R.O. 50/1981); Labour Code (Exemption of Air Transport Industry) Order 1989 [SUB]' with a contained_orders list (title, citation, pages); 37 rows added in v13 whose own text has a Statutory Instrument heading recategorised SI with the ' [SI]' suffix. Whole Gazette issues named EO_/Sup_/…Gazette… are now held with the other Gazette issues (23 moved out of pending; nothing pulled). After one last fresh catalog sweep (no new rows), +24 laws fetched live from laws.gov.ag (9 S.I.s, 2 Acts, 13 UK-era Revised Edition orders, rules and medal regulations; 8 text layer, 16 OCR'd scans, 183 pages); 1 exact copy quarantined and 1 reference table set aside. The catalog is complete apart from Gazette material: 0 non-Gazette rows pending (MANIFEST catalog_status). 3,184 -> 3,208 laws, 66,380 -> 66,950 articles.

• hub_tip_base: bef6582f9c3f5aef930bc9a487563a73bf2665e9 (v13: 3,184 laws / 66,380 articles)

• v13 (ag_fix_v13 + ag_catalog_deepen_v12, 2026-09-26): CoS-approved changes to four tip rows (ids and texts unchanged, old values in metadata.history): the upload named for S.I. 2016 No. 50 retitled 'Prevention of Terrorism (Security Council Resolution) (Amendment) (No. 21) Order, 2016' with its S.I. number recorded in metadata; the replacement character in the titles of S.I. 2008 Nos. 1 and 3 ('Magistrate’s Court') replaced by the apostrophe; a metadata-only note that the standalone S.I. 2007 No. 2 is also contained in the combined S.I. 2007 Nos. 1-2 row. A fifth approved retitle (the Cap-27 row) was held because that file also contains the genuine Minimum (Basic Wage) Order 1981; the choice went back to CoS. The batch runner now keeps OCR'd pages upright unless a rotation clearly wins (new documents only; 0 pages rotated in this batch); rotated pages in existing rows were measured and listed for a later fix-only pack, not changed. +260 laws fetched from laws.gov.ag (220 S.I.s and 40 other rows, 37 of them S.I.s by heading; 210 text layer, 50 OCR'd scans, 543 pages; 1 from a Wayback capture of the official URL); 2 second uploads rejected, 3 exact copies and 4 second copies set aside. 2,924 -> 3,184 laws, 61,471 -> 66,380 articles.

• v13 was built on 453280b2b5f3af129d9d8089e7262efb8ec0a65a (v12: 2,924 laws / 61,471 articles)

• v12 (ag_fix_v12 + ag_catalog_deepen_v11, 2026-09-26): CoS-approved retitle of four tip rows from their own texts (a1999-5 now 'James Drew (et al) Pension Benefit Act, 1999', with near_duplicate_of ag-a1999-4 and a note that the file was filed under No. 5 of 1999, both rows kept; a2015-30 now 'Plan of Arrangement (Baico and Clico) Act, 2015'; a1997-18 now 'Companies Regulations, 1997'; the S.I. 2006 No. 24 row now 'Proclamation dated the 29th day of November, 2006, appointing the 11th day of December, 2006 as a public holiday') and a metadata-only rights note on S.I. 2021 No. 81 (ids and texts unchanged, old values in metadata.history); no other tip row or article changed. +249 S.I.s fetched live from laws.gov.ag (31 text layer, 218 OCR'd scans, 1,846 pages, the largest 190 pages; mis-rotated table and form pages re-OCR'd upright); 16 live 404s added to the Gazette-pass list; 3 second uploads rejected and 1 second copy set aside. 2,675 -> 2,924 laws, 57,946 -> 61,471 articles.

• v12 was built on ff3905f63cf3798669610caae2cc654bae68c885 (v11: 2,675 laws / 57,946 articles)

• v11 (ag_fix_v11 + ag_catalog_deepen_v10, 2026-09-26): CoS-approved retitle of two tip rows from their own headings (the upload named S.I. 1996 No. 35 now titled 'Customs (Appointment of Officers) Order, 1996'; the upload named S.I. 1994 No. 19 now titled 'Provisional Collection of Taxes (Variation of Hotel Tax) Order, 1994'; ids unchanged, old titles in metadata.history); no other tip row or article changed. A read-only audit of every tip row's number against its own text found 21 mismatches (6 false positives, 15 rows holding another instrument) plus one more wrong title; 4 retitles proposed to CoS, not applied) and 13 catalog rows wrongly skipped as the same instrument as a tip row; those 13 were fetched as new rows (Acts No. 3, 5 and 6 of 2010 and No. 1 of 2026, 7 S.I.s, Cap 422A Rules of the Supreme Court Parts 2 and 3). +255 laws fetched live from laws.gov.ag (249 S.I.s, 4 Acts, 2 Cap subsidiary volumes; 50 text layer, 205 OCR'd scans, 1,960 pages, the largest 174 pages); 1 second copy set aside. 2,420 -> 2,675 laws, 54,711 -> 57,946 articles.

• v11 was built on dbafe18ac0d58ab751e92995f6d5e27fb49b6a5e (v10: 2,420 laws / 54,711 articles)

• v10 (ag_catalog_deepen_v9, 2026-09-26): +255 laws fetched live from laws.gov.ag (254 S.I.s and 1 Act that the catalog had filed among S.I.s; 60 text layer, 195 OCR'd scans, 1,404 pages, the largest 169 pages); no tip row or article changed. Three new rows whose files hold another instrument than their upload names were retitled from their own headings; the genuine instruments were fetched from other official uploads where they exist (S.I. 1996 No. 35, S.I. 2013 No. 14, S.I. 2003 No. 4). New CoS rule: an instrument with no correct file at any official URL or on Wayback joins the Gazette-pass list like a 404; every entry records its reason and Wayback status. 2,165 -> 2,420 laws, 51,445 -> 54,711 articles.

• v10 was built on 9c1ab6b7bf6126e76bc775f7df8c0a1a1942c0d9 (v9: 2,165 laws / 51,445 articles)

• v9 (ag_fix_v9 + ag_catalog_deepen_v8, 2026-09-26): CoS-approved retitle of one tip row (S.I. 2016 No. 42, now titled from its own heading as the notice under the Domestic Violence Act 2015; id unchanged, old title in metadata.history); no other tip row or article changed. +256 S.I.s fetched live from laws.gov.ag (71 text layer, 185 OCR'd scans, 1,058 pages). The 5 rows that reappeared after v8 were checked (4 distinct, 1 exact copy of the retitled row). 1,909 -> 2,165 laws, 49,734 -> 51,445 articles.

• v9 was built on 6b58af8722fca96a78e7dd8535461386550be25b (v8: 1,909 laws / 49,734 articles)

• v8 (ag_catalog_deepen_v7, 2026-09-25): +250 laws fetched live from laws.gov.ag (248 S.I.s and 2 Acts that the catalog had filed among S.I.s; 244 text layer, 6 OCR'd scans); no tip row or article changed. The 5 rows that reappeared after v7 were checked and are distinct instruments; 3 second copies were set aside (see MANIFEST duplicate_checks and leftovers). Repeated article ids are unchanged; a fix-only pack is planned after the catalog is exhausted. 1,659 -> 1,909 laws, 47,220 -> 49,734 articles.

• v8 was built on 6dc496626298a640082f2a1e7bd32b7779ee5cd5 (v7: 1,659 laws / 47,220 articles)

• v7 (ag_fix_v7 + ag_catalog_deepen_v6, 2026-09-25): CoS-approved retitle of one tip row, ag-a2006-3-1, from "Income Tax Amendment Act, 2006, The" to "Caribbean Community (Movement of Factors) Act, 2006" (Act No. 3 of 2006, from the law's own heading; old title in metadata.history); no other tip row or article changed. +250 S.I.s fetched live from laws.gov.ag (all text layer). All 15 ab.gov.ag 2004 files set aside as bill prints (enacted Acts already present). 1,409 -> 1,659 laws, 45,194 -> 47,220 articles.

• v7 was built on db2f255a287e94e4d982ba67da04ceca814d082f (v6: 1,409 laws / 45,194 articles)

• v6 (ag_catalog_deepen_v5, 2026-09-25): +250 laws (100 Acts, 118 regulations/orders under Caps, 32 S.I.s; 126 text layer, 120 OCR'd scans incl. two over 150 pages under the CoS 200-page rule, 4 Wayback); no tip row changed. Bills, non-legislation and second copies found in the run were set aside (see MANIFEST duplicate_checks and leftovers). 1,159 -> 1,409 laws, 39,672 -> 45,194 articles.

• v6 was built on 98a417118df706b2c401cabac598585746284fbe (v5: 1,159 laws / 39,672 articles)

• v5 (ag_catalog_deepen_v4, 2026-09-25): +250 Acts fetched live from laws.gov.ag (235 text layer, 15 OCR'd scans); no tip row changed. The 4 retryable failures were retried once, none recoverable (a2007-15 is a cover page with no law text; 3 S.I. files are 404 with no Wayback capture). 909 -> 1,159 laws, 29,531 -> 39,672 articles.

• v5 was built on 12c99c82f198aef6a1704a395968de3abce6d79d (v4: 909 laws / 29,531 articles)

• v4 (ag_fix_v4 + ag_bigocr_v4 + ag_catalog_deepen_v3, 2026-09-25): CoS-approved fixes (17 Cap titles from the laws' own chapter headings, old titles in metadata.history; one table OCR re-extracted, No. 27 of 1996); 2 large scanned PDFs OCR'd (Rules of the Supreme Court under Cap 422A, 176 pages; Customs (Control and Management) Act 2013, 151 pages); +250 laws (9 Caps, 241 Acts). 657 -> 909 laws, 21,318 -> 29,531 articles.

• v4 was built on e4703748dda53d7ed3b9636c31784fdb84e22c09 (v3: 657 laws / 21,318 articles)

• v3 (ag_fix_v3 + ag_catalog_deepen_v2, 2026-09-25): CoS-approved tip fixes (Cap 246A re-split; S.I. 38/2018 duplicate flags; 129 running-head Cap titles replaced by the laws.gov.ag shelf short titles on an exact Cap-number match, old titles kept in metadata.history) and +257 laws (84 Caps, 145 Acts, 23 S.I.s, 5 Cap subsidiary volumes; 400 -> 657 laws, 14,381 -> 21,318 articles).

• v3 was built on d7de1833f3ce47255347d8eaaa04fd3119f212cc (v2: 400 laws / 14,381 articles)

• v2 (ag_catalog_deepen_v1, 2026-09-25): +250 Revised Edition Caps fetched live from laws.gov.ag (150 -> 400 laws, 4,387 -> 14,381 articles). Tip rows kept; only a length-preserving form-feed normalisation in text (see MANIFEST control_chars).

• v2 was built on 85734f06153d45a6f2ceb9e69bd5c4d7b50de23a (v1: 150 laws / 4,387 articles)

Copyright notices

One third-party copyright line was found, and it is described here, not quoted: S.I. 2021 No. 81 (ratification of the ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011) reproduces the convention as printed from the International Labour Organization's online database, and that printout's page footer carries the ILO's copyright-and-permissions line. CoS decided (v12) to keep the row and the footer lines as published in the official S.I., with no rights hold; the row's metadata carries a rights_note describing the footer. No other text carries a copyright notice. The texts are Government of Antigua and Barbuda legislation; the authentic Official Gazette / Government Printer text prevails.

Known gaps

Official PDFs from laws.gov.ag Acts/Caps/SI/Sub-laws + gazette.laws.gov.ag Official Gazette. Live + Wayback CDX of official URLs. Skip bills/forms. Not vLex. Catalog complete: 0 non-Gazette rows pending after the final v14 batch (MANIFEST catalog_status). Whole Gazette issues (525 catalog URLs, 23 of them newly classified in v14) are held under the Gazette policy, and 67 instruments wait for a Gazette pass (below).

Leftovers

• a2007-15 (https://laws.gov.ag/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/a2007-15.pdf): unrecoverable — the official file is one page with only the heading and the coat of arms, no law text (CoS decision).
• 67 instruments on the Gazette-pass list (64 S.I.s, 3 Acts): 61 whose official files return 404 and 6 whose only file under their name holds another instrument (S.I. 2017 No. 64, S.I. 1994 No. 19, S.I. 2012 No. 25, Act No. 5 of 1999, Act No. 30 of 2015, Act No. 18 of 1997; CoS rule 2026-09-26); none has a Wayback copy of the genuine instrument (CDX checked 2026-09-26). Held for a later pass over only the Gazette issues that cover them (list with reason and Wayback status in MANIFEST gazette_pass_pending).
• Set aside in v7: the 9 remaining bill prints from ab.gov.ag/gov_v1/parliament/2004Laws (CoS decision: every file there is a bill print; 6 more were set aside as bills in v6). The enacted Acts are present, except that no Business Licences Act of 2004 exists. List with URLs in MANIFEST decisions_v7 and leftovers.
• Set aside in v14: 1 non-legislation file (the Revised Edition reference table 'List of foreign States with which the United Kingdom has concluded Extradition Arrangements which extend to Antigua and Barbuda'); 1 exact copy (the '.doc.pdf' upload of the Cruise Port Act 2019) quarantined. List with URL in MANIFEST leftovers.
• Set aside in v13: 2 second uploads rejected by the runner (legalaffairs.gov.ag copies of S.I. 2018 No. 4 and S.I. 2017 No. 51) and 4 second copies (a copy of the Citizenship by Investment (Amendment) Act 2014, a second upload of the Banking (Amendment) Act 2018, and unnumbered drafts of S.I. 2018 Nos. 1 and 2). List with URLs in MANIFEST leftovers.
• Set aside in v12: 3 second uploads rejected by the runner (the 2022/12 uploads of S.I. 2016 No. 20, S.I. 2016 No. 50 and S.I. 2002 No. 7) and 1 second copy (the 2022/12 upload of S.I. 2012 No. 34, held in the tip under the row named for S.I. 2012 No. 25). List with URLs in MANIFEST leftovers.
• Set aside in v11: 1 file whose instrument is already present under another row (the 2022/12 upload of S.I. 1997 No. 5, Companies Regulations 1997, held in the tip under the row named a1997-18). List with URLs in MANIFEST leftovers.
• Set aside in v10: 2 files whose text is already present under another row (the S.I. 1996 No. 34 upload, whose text the tip holds under the No. 35 row; an S.I. 2003 No. 4 upload that holds No. 3). List with URLs in MANIFEST leftovers.
• Set aside in v9: 2 second copies of S.I.s already present (S.I. 2017 No. 66 under a No. 64 file name, S.I. 2017 No. 75). List with URLs in MANIFEST leftovers.
• Set aside in v8: 3 second copies of S.I.s already present (S.I. 2016 No. 4, S.I. 2010 No. 30, S.I. 2020 No. 15). List with URLs in MANIFEST leftovers.
• Set aside in v6: 13 bills, 3 non-legislation files (an explanatory booklet, two application forms), 5 second copies of laws already present, and a one-page "no subsidiary legislation" placeholder (Caps 473-474). Full list with URLs and reasons in MANIFEST leftovers.