Subordinate Legislation

Subordinate legislation is the laws brought forward by Ministers under powers delegated by an Act or Measure of the Assembly or by an Act of Parliament.

In passing an Act, the Assembly approves its principles, general objectives and important points of detail.  However, the Act will usually give Welsh Ministers, or some other body, powers to make detailed rules and regulations or compel action relating to how the main law is implemented.

Subordinate Legislation is also referred to as secondary legislation, delegated legislation or statutory instruments.  It includes orders, regulations, rules and schemes, and can include statutory guidance and local orders.

The Assembly procedures relevant to most Subordinate Legislation are set out in Standing Order 27. Subordinate Legislation was scrutinised in the Third Assembly by the Constitutional Affairs Committee under Standing Order 15 and by Committee on Statutory Instruments on the 22nd June 2011.

Subordinate Legislation Subject to Annulment

Most Subordinate Legislation is subject to annulment (the negative procedure), This legislation takes effect automatically unless the Assembly resolves to annul it.

Subordinate Legislation Subject to Approval

Some legislation is subject to approval (the affirmative procedure) and has to be formally approved by the Assembly before it takes effect.

Other Subordinate Legislation

There is some Subordinate Legislation for which no formal procedure is prescribed other than that it be laid before the Assembly. A list of this type of subordinate legislation can be found subordinate legislation can be found here.

In this section

  • Breach of the 21 Day Rule Letters

Subordinate Legislation must be laid before the National Assembly at least 21 days before it comes into effect. If this rule is breached, the relevent Minister has to notify the Presiding Officer of the reasons. These letters can be found here.

  • Statutory Instruments made jointly with UK Ministers.

Instruments which are made jointly by Welsh and UK Ministers have to be laid before both the Assembly and Parliament. These can be found here .

  • Orders which follow Special Assembly Procedures

Some orders follow a special procedure. They cannot be made or confirmed by the Minister until the procedures laid down by Standing Order 28 have been complied with.

Standing Order 28 includes provision for petitions to be presented to the Assembly’s Presiding Officer against the draft special procedure Order. The Presiding Officer has produced written guidance for presenting such a petition.Which can be found here.

  • Committee Reports on Subordinate Legislation.

Reports on individual pieces of subordinate legislation by the Committee responsible for scrutinising them can be found at the following links:

In this section

Find information about the National Assembly

You are in :

  1. Home
  2. Assembly business
  3. Legislation
  4. Subordinate Legislation

Explore the National Assembly for Wales

Partners & Help