(1)Except as provided in section 21 of this Act and subject to the following provisions of this section, this Act shall come into operation on 1st April 1972 (in this section referred to as " the commencement date ").
(2)This section, any provisions of this Act which confer any power to make regulations or orders, or which (whether expressly or as construed in accordance with section 32(3) of the [1889 c. 63.] Interpretation Act 1889) confer any power to revoke or vary any regulations or orders, and any provisions of this Act relating to the exercise of any such power, shall come into operation on the passing of this Act; but no regulations or order shall be made under this Act so as to come into operation before the commencement date.
(3)In subsection (2) of this section the reference to provisions of this Act relating to the exercise of any such power as is therein mentioned includes a reference to any provisions of this Act whereby statutory instruments containing regulations or an order are subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament, or whereby any regulations or order or any provisions thereof require the approval of each of those Houses.
(4)Any reference in this Act to the commencement of this Act is a reference to the coming into operation of so much of this Act as comes into operation on the commencement date, and any reference to the date of the commencement of this Act is a reference to that date; and if any Act passed after the passing of this Act refers to the commencement of this Act, subsections (2) and (3) of this section and section 21 of this Act shall be disregarded for the purpose of construing that reference in accordance with section 36 of the Interpretation Act 1889 (which relates to the meaning of " commencement" with reference to an Act).
(5)The preceding provisions of this section shall have effect without prejudice to the generality of section 37 of the Interpretation Act 1889 (which relates to the exercise of statutory powers between the passing and the commencement of an Act).