Section 66 – Commencement
149.This section sets out when the provisions of the Act will come into force (i.e. begin to have effect). Some of the final sections of the Act, including this section, will come into force automatically on the day after Royal Assent is granted. However, for the most part, commencement will take place on the date or dates specified by the Scottish Ministers in regulations. These regulations will be laid before the Scottish Parliament but will not otherwise be subject to any parliamentary procedure (see section 30 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010). Subsection (3) provides that any regulations bringing section 60 and paragraph 11 of schedule 4 into force can only be made once the Scottish Qualifications Authority has no remaining functions that are exercisable otherwise than in or as regards Scotland.
150.In addition, this section provides that commencement regulations may include transitional, transitory or saving provision and may make different provision for different purposes. In particular, this allows different sections of the Act to be commenced on different days.
