Attorney General Larry Mussenden has unveiled a new copy of Bermuda's Criminal Law legislation on CD-ROM for those working within the criminal justice system.

However, he has come under fire from his opposite number who says it is unacceptable that this is the first copy of up-to-date law to have been made available since 1998.

Shadow Attorney General Trevor Moniz has also criticised the fact that the disk is only going to be handed out to legal professionals, with members of the public having to wait until next year to see it.

The CD-ROM incorporates a total of 486 amendments made to the law since August 1998 that had previously needed to be consolidated into the existing body of legislation.

It is the accomplishment of the Public Access to Legislation Project team set up in September 2004 which is said to have been working non-stop to clear the backlog.

"In the past, as the laws have been enacted, the complete body of legislation has not always been updated or consolidated in a timely manner. This is an important step in the right direction," said Sen. Mussenden yesterday.

"I am keen to note that we have a rather modern techie Criminal Justice System that includes the Chief Justice, judges, magistrates, lawyers and even defendants.

"I wish to state that this CD-ROM is for the use of the various entities in the Criminal Justice System only. Whilst the edition has been verified several times over, we await the official approval by me in 2006 when the entire consolidated set of laws of Bermuda will be made available to the public. Therefore the official version of the law will remain as the printed versions until the official version is published in 2006."

The current printed version of the law, as amended up to 1998, is available on the website www.bermudalaws.com until then.

Mr. Moniz said of the launch of the CD-ROM: "A seven-year gap is not the definition of in-tune and up-to-date. They have messed up and this calls for an apology for the mistakes of the past, not for crowing."

regarding the fact that the general public will not be able to see the new information until next year, Mr. Moniz added: "This is very annoying and anti-democratic. It is a case of 'better late than never' but the Goverment should be saying sorry."