Laws and regulations pages template: Canada.ca design

The laws and regulations collection provides access to Government of Canada acts and regulations through their individual profiles.

The collection of laws and regulations:

• enables people to efficiently find an act or regulation by quickly filtering results based upon pre-set keyword filtering
• allows for acts and regulations to be discovered and displayed within the context of topics and institutions

Act and regulation profiles:

• provide a plain language description of an act or regulation
• consolidate information related to recent and upcoming changes in legislation
• provide consolidated access to consultation opportunities on regulations
• relate acts and regulations to Canada.ca topics, institutions, responsible ministers, and related acts and regulations

On this page

• When to use these templates
• How to use these templates:
  • Act profile page
  • Regulation profile page
• Working examples
• User navigation

When to use these templates

• Use the act profile page template when you need to present an act
• Use the regulation profile page template when you need to present a regulation

How to use these templates

How to use the act profile page

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1: Act name

Provides the name of the act

• Content

  • the title of the act must appear as legislated
  • the name of the act may also include date and version numbers, when applicable
• Presentation

  • the act name must be a unique H1
  • must be the first element on the page

2: Tabbed interface

Provides secondary navigation to related content

• Content

  • must include the following tabs:
    • “About this legislation”
    • “Read the legislation”
    • “Legislative change”
• Presentation

  • appears below the act name

3: Overview

Provides 1 or 2 sentences that describe the legislation in plain language

• Content

  • provides a brief, plain language overview of the legislation
  • keep the text short and concise
  • written for a grade 6-8 reading level
• Presentation

  • appears directly below the tabbed interface

4: Related information

Provides links to content related to the act

• Content

  • must include the following information (along with hyperlinks):
    • Responsible ministers—links to the related ministerial profiles, as prescribed in the act
    • Related topics—provides links to the top 5 topics related to this act
    • Related institutions—links to the profiles of all institutions related to this act
    • Related acts—provides links to the top 5 acts related to this act
    • Regulations under this act—provides links to all regulations provisioned under this act
• Presentation

  • appears under the overview

5: Additional information

Provides links to additional content relevant to the act

• Presentation

  • appears under the related information block
  • must be presented as a bulleted list

6: Learn more about legislation in Canada

Provides links to information about the legislative process and other relevant topics under “How government works”

• Content

  • features at least one link to a page describing the legislative process
  • the component must be identical across all act and regulation profile pages
• Presentation

  • appears below the tabbed interface
  • a maximum of 4 doormat links is allowed

7: Consolidated text

Provides the latest consolidated text of the act

• Content

  • must contain the consolidated text of the legislation, including a table of contents and a list of regulations under the act
  • must provide links to alternative formats of the act
  • must provide links to previous versions of the act
  • may include additional features to help search within the text of the act
• Presentation

  • appears under the “Read the legislation” tab
  • presented as prescribed by the Department of Justice Canada

8: News, notices and recent amendments

Provides links to content describing all news and changes related to the act

• Content

  • includes links to Canada Gazette and news items only under the following headings:
    • Recent amendments
    • Canada Gazette, Part II
    • Notices
    • Canada Gazette, Part I
    • News releases
• Presentation

  • appears to the left of the planned changes and consultations block under the “Legislative change” tab

9: Planned changes and consultations

Provides links to content describing planned changes, and any past, active or upcoming consultations in relation to the act

• Content

  • includes links to any relevant content under the following headings:
    • Recently tabled bills
    • Related forward regulatory plans
    • Related red tape reduction responses
    • Upcoming opportunities to consult
    • Past consultations
• Presentation

  • appears to the right of the news, notices and recent amendments block under the “Legislative change” tab

How to use the regulation profile page

Expand All Collapse All

1: Regulation name

Provides the name of the regulation

• Content

  • the title of the regulation must appear as legislated
  • the title may also include date and version numbers, when applicable
• Presentation

  • the regulation name must be a unique H1
  • must be the first element on the page

2: Tabbed interface

Provides secondary navigation to related content

• Content

  • must include the following tabs:
    • About this legislation
    • Read the legislation
    • Legislative change
• Presentation

  • appears directly below the regulation name

3: Overview

Provides 1 or 2 sentences that describe the legislation in plain language

• Content

  • provides a brief, plain language overview of the legislation
  • keep the text short and concise
  • written for a grade 6-8 reading level
• Presentation

  • appears directly below the tabbed interface

4: Related information

Provides links to content related to the regulation

• Content

  • must include the following information (along with hyperlinks):
    • Responsible ministers—links to the related ministerial profiles, as prescribed in the regulation
    • Related topics—provides links to the top 5 topics related to this regulation
    • Related institutions— links to the profiles of all institutions related to this regulation
    • Related regulations—provides links to the top 5 regulations related to this regulation
• Presentation

  • appears under the overview

5: Additional information

Provides links to additional content relevant to the regulation

• Presentation

  • appears under the related information block
  • must be presented as a bulleted list

6: Learn more about legislation in Canada

Provides links to information about the legislative process and other relevant topics under “How government works”

• Content

  • features at least one link to a page describing the legislative process
  • the component must be identical across all regulation and regulation profile pages
• Presentation

  • appears below the tabbed interface
  • a maximum of 4 doormat links is allowed

7: Consolidated text

Provides the latest consolidated text of the regulation

• Content

  • must contain the consolidated text of the legislation, including a table of contents
  • must provide links to alternative formats of the regulation
  • must provide links to previous versions of the regulation
  • should include additional features to help search within the text of the regulation
• Presentation

  • appears under the “Read the legislation” tab
  • content is presented as prescribed by the Department of Justice Canada

8: News, notices and recent amendments

Provides links to content describing all news and changes related to the regulation

• Content

  • includes links to Canada Gazette and news items only under the following headings:
    • Recent amendments
    • Canada Gazette, Part II
    • Notices
    • Canada Gazette, Part I
    • News releases
• Presentation

  • appears to the left of the planned changes and consultations block under the “Legislative change” tab

9: Planned changes and consultations

Provides links to content describing planned changes and any past, active or upcoming consultations in relation to the regulation

• Content

  • include links to any relevant content under the following headings:
    • Recently tabled bills
    • Related forward regulatory plans
    • Related red tape reduction responses
    • Upcoming opportunities to consult
    • Past consultations
• Presentation

  • appears to the right of the news, notices and recent amendments block under the “Legislative change” tab

Working examples

• English working example of Act profile page (on GitHub)
• French working example of Act profile (on GitHub)
• English working example Regulation profile page (on GitHub)
• French working example of Regulation profile page (on GitHub)

User navigation

Figure 7 – Text version

Act profile pages can be accessed from the Laws and regulations page in the footer. The Act profile pages include tabs for Legislative change, About this legislation and Read the Legislation. The About this legislation tab links to a regulatory guidance page, which can also be accessed from the Guidance finder.