EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order makes savings and transitional provision in consequence of the coming into force of Parts 2, 4 and 5, and in Part 6, section 55(3) to (5) of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the Act”) on 6th April 2011 by virtue of S.S.I. 2010/17. Those Parts of the Act replace the existing arrangements under the Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Statutory Instruments) Order 1999 and the Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Orders subject to Special Parliamentary Procedure) Order 1999 with new arrangements for the scrutiny of subordinate legislation by the Scottish Parliament, provision about orders subject to special parliamentary procedure and provision about the laying of certain documents before the Scottish Parliament.
Article 3 of this Order continues the existing arrangements for orders which are subject to special parliamentary procedure if notice of the order was given before 6th April 2011.
Article 4 of this Order provides that schedule 4 to the Act does not apply to certain statutory instruments made before 6th April 2011 or draft statutory instruments laid before the Scottish Parliament prior to that date and further provides that the existing arrangements are to continue have effect in relation to them.
Article 5 of this Order disapplies the new procedural requirements in the Act in relation to subordinate legislation which is contained in a document that was a Scottish statutory instrument under the existing arrangements before 6th April 2011 (“pre-commencement instruments”), or which was contained in a document laid before the Scottish Parliament before 6th April 2011 in accordance with an enactment to which the new arrangements will apply.
As a consequence of this, article 6 of this Order provides for the existing arrangements to continue to have effect in relation to pre-commencement instruments subject to the exception that the requirement for the Queen’s Printer for Scotland to prepare annual editions under the existing arrangements continues to have effect only up until 2010.
Articles 7 to 11 of this Order provide for various provisions of the Scottish Statutory Instruments Regulations 2011 to apply to pre-commencement instruments, subject to certain modifications. The effect of this is to allow the provisions of those Regulations which relate to numbering, printing and publishing of Scottish statutory instruments to apply in relation to anything that has been done under the existing arrangements for numbering, printing and publishing. Provision is also made to allow pre-commencement instruments to be cited in accordance with regulation 4 of those Regulations and for the evidential status of existing lists and annual editions of Scottish statutory instruments.
Article 12 of this Order ensures that the first number to be assigned under regulation 3 of the 2011 Regulations to a Scottish statutory instrument made in calendar year 2011 is the number after the number assigned to the last pre-commencement instrument.