Legislation (Wales) Act 2019

PART 1 ACCESSIBILITY OF WELSH LAW

1 Duty to keep accessibility of Welsh law under review

(1) The Counsel General must keep the accessibility of Welsh law under review.

(2) In this Part, the “accessibility” of Welsh law means the extent to which it is—

(a) readily available to members of the public in Welsh and English;

(b) published in an up-to-date form in both languages (showing whether enactments are in force and incorporating any amendments made to them);

(c) clearly and logically organised (both within and between enactments);

(d) easy to understand and certain in its effect.

(3) In this Part, “Welsh law” means—

(a) Assembly Acts and Assembly Measures;

(b) subordinate legislation made under Assembly Acts and Assembly Measures;

(c) any other subordinate legislation made by the Welsh Ministers or the National Assembly for Wales established by the Government of Wales Act 1998 (c. 38), so far as it applies in relation to Wales;

(d) any other enactment or rule of law, so far as it applies in relation to Wales and relates to subject matter which could be provided for in an Assembly Act.

2 Programme to improve accessibility of Welsh law

(1) The Welsh Ministers and the Counsel General must prepare a programme setting out what they intend to do to improve the accessibility of Welsh law.

(2) A programme must be prepared for each term of the National Assembly for Wales that begins after this section comes into force.

(3) The programme must include proposed activities that are intended to—

(a) contribute to an ongoing process of consolidating and codifying Welsh law;

(b) maintain the form of Welsh law (once codified);

(c) promote awareness and understanding of Welsh law;

(d) facilitate use of the Welsh language.

(4) The programme may also include proposed activities—

(a) that may be undertaken in collaboration with the Law Commission (in accordance with the Law Commissions Act 1965 (c. 22)), or

(b) of any other kind the Welsh Ministers and the Counsel General consider appropriate.

(5) The Counsel General must lay a copy of the programme before the National Assembly within 6 months of the appointment of a First Minister after a general election held under Part 1 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32).

(6) The Welsh Ministers and the Counsel General may at any time revise the programme, and if they do so the Counsel General must lay a copy of the revised programme before the National Assembly.

(7) The Counsel General must report annually to the National Assembly on progress made under the programme.

(8) In subsection (3), codifying Welsh law includes—

(a) adopting a structure for Welsh law that improves its accessibility;

(b) organising and publishing consolidated Welsh law according to that structure.