Draft Ministerial Code
4(1)The proceedings to be conducted by the Transitional Assembly shall include the preparation and consideration of a draft Ministerial Code.
(2)If the Transitional Assembly approves the draft Ministerial Code (with or without amendments) before 24 March 2007, the approved draft Ministerial Code shall become the Ministerial Code for the purposes of section 28A of the 1998 Act on 26 March 2007.
(3)Any approval under sub-paragraph (2) requires cross-community support (see paragraph 11).
(4)The draft Ministerial Code approved under sub-paragraph (2)—
(a)must comply with the requirements of subsections (5) to (8) of section 28A of the 1998 Act (to be inserted in that Act by section 5 of this Act), and
(b)may include other provisions.
(5)But if the Transitional Assembly has not approved the draft Ministerial Code (with or without amendments) before 24 March 2007—
(a)the Secretary of State must prepare a draft Ministerial Code in accordance with sub-paragraph (6), and
(b)that draft Ministerial Code shall become the Ministerial Code for the purposes of section 28A of the 1998 Act on 26 March 2007.
(6)The draft Ministerial Code referred to in sub-paragraph (5) must, so far as practicable, be—
(a)in the form of any parts of the draft Ministerial Code that have been approved by the Transitional Assembly under sub-paragraph (2) (with or without amendments) before 24 March 2007;
(b)otherwise, in the form of the former Ministerial Code,
and must comply with the requirements of subsections (5) to (8) of section 28A of the 1998 Act.
(7)In this paragraph “the former Ministerial Code” means the Ministerial Code which—
(a)was approved by the Executive Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and
(b)applied to members of the Executive Committee immediately before the most recent suspension of that Assembly by virtue of section 1 of the 2000 Act.