Statutory instrument

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In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of

United Kingdom

Statutory instruments are the principal form of

Statutory instruments (or 'regulations')[1] are primarily governed by the Statutory Instruments Act 1946,^[2] which replaced the system of statutory rules and orders governed by the Rules Publication Act 1893.

Following the

Wales Statutory Instruments made by the Welsh Government are published as a subseries of the UK statutory instrument series—for example, the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 (Commencement No. 3) Order 2017 is numbered 2017 No. 714 (W. 171), meaning it is the 714th statutory instrument in the UK series and 171st in the Wales subseries.^[4]

Scotland

In

In the Republic of Ireland the term "statutory instrument" is given a much broader meaning than under the UK legislation. Under the Statutory Instruments Act 1947 a statutory instrument is defined as being "an order, regulation, rule, scheme or bye-law made in exercise of a power conferred by statute".

However, only certain statutory instrument are published and numbered by the Stationery Office, this being mostly where the statute enabling the enactment of delegated legislation required that any such legislation be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

United States

Two close equivalents of similar operation are

• Executive orders of the president of the United States, which give instructions to various federal agencies on certain actions they are to take in various cases. They have the force of law, but are subordinate to primary legislation (i.e. acts of Congress) which may constrain their effect, and are also subject to judicial review.
• Regulations of various government agencies (a form of
  delegated legislation) are issued by those agencies regarding subjects those agencies have jurisdiction or responsibility over, or in response to statutes of Congress directing them to take responsibility over a particular subject or issue. They are published in the Federal Register
  for public notice and comment before becoming valid, and unless objected to by Congress, become effective and have the force and effect of law.

Similarly to the United Kingdom, national and state/provincial governments in Australia and Canada also call their delegated legislation statutory instruments.

Canada uses statutory instruments for

• List of statutory instruments of Australia
• Orders in Council

References