The BVI's first Official Gazette was the Leeward Islands Official Gazette, published in Antigua from the late 1800s until 1962 for the islands of Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, and the Virgin Islands. When the West Indies Federation was established in 1962, the Gazette became the Antigua, Montserrat and Virgin Islands Official Gazette. It was still published in Antigua.
With the end of the West Indies Federation and the passage of the Virgin Islands Constitution Order of 1967, the BVI established its own Official Gazette. The first issue of the Virgin Islands Official Gazette was printed on March 9th, 1967. This first edition contained a notice as follows:
"The Administrator has under Section 2 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Act 1955 signed a declaration that the publication in the Colony under the title "The Virgin Islands Official Gazette" including any Extraordinary issue thereof or any supplement thereto shall be the Official publication of the Government of the Virgin Islands.
Administrator's Office
Tortola
British Virgin Islands
8th March, 1967"
In the early years, the Official Gazette was published every other week, and was the joint responsibility of the Secretary to Government and the Registrar of the High Court. Later, it became the responsibility of the Deputy Governor's Office. A complete set of the Virgin Islands Official Gazette (1967-present) is kept at the Passport Office.
Over the years, the Gazette has grown. The chart below shows the total number of pages and the total number of notices for Gazette volumes issued in certain years.
Volume | Year | No. of Pages | No. of Notices |
1 | 1967 | 85 | 169 |
10 | 1976 | 195 | 477 |
20 | 1986 | 296 | 338 |
30 | 1996 | 857 | 4,368 |
40 | 2006 | 1,911 | 11,613 |
These snapshots of the Gazette through its history capture the publication's change over the last 40 years.
Volume 1, No. 1 (March 9th, 1967)
Volume 10, No. 1 (January 8th, 1976)
Volume 20, No. 1 (January 9th, 1986)
Volume 30, No. 1 (January 4th, 1996)
Volume 40, No. 1 (January 1st, 2006)