Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly

[1] A public bill is a bill which is introduced by a Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland) (MLA), and which will deal with the general laws of Northern Ireland, rather than the law as it applies to a single person or organisation.

[4] The Northern Ireland Assembly has considered other implementations of private legislation procedures.

[1] The precise process is set out by the Parliament's standing orders, and varies slightly depending on how the bill is classified.

The DPLR, if it is involved, will also prepare a report on the necessity of conferring the power to create secondary legislation.

The Assembly may move to have a further report produced by the lead committee (either on the bill as a whole or on a specific part), or proceed to debate.

Occasionally, a bill is transferred to a committee of the entire Northern Ireland Assembly.

[4] Depending on the amendments submitted, it may be required to update the bill's supporting documents.

[1] Unlike in Stage 2, the Parliament will only debate those amendments selected by the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

[1] The Supreme Court will then determine whether the bill is within the Assembly's legislative competence; before the UK left the European Union in 2020, it could also decide whether the bill was to be referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for review.

Section 35 provides that such challenges must be on the grounds that the bill: is incompatible with international obligations; is incompatible with the interests of defence or national security; or deals with reserved matters and will have "an adverse effect on the operation of the law."

[1] The final stage before a bill can be classed as an act is the receiving of royal assent – the approval of the monarch.

A bill is submitted for royal assent by the Speaker, who may only do so after either waiting for the four-week statutory challenge period to expire or after receiving confirmation that no statutory challenge will be lodged as per section 11 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

CHARLES THE THIRD by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories King Head of the Commonwealth Defender of the Faith To the Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

AND WHERAS pursuant to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 the said Bill has been submitted to Us by '[insert name of Secretary of State]' one of our Principal Secretaries for our Royal Assent We have therefore caused these Our Letters Patent to be made and have signed them and by them We give Our Royal Asset to the said Bill COMMANDING '[insert name of Clerk of the Crown for Northern Ireland]' the Clerk of the Northern Ireland to seal these Our Letters with the Great Seal of Northern Ireland AND ALSO COMMANDING that these Our Letters be notified the Presiding Officer of the Northern Ireland Assembly; AND FINALLY WE declare that in accordance with the Northern Ireland Act 1998, at the beginning of the day on which Our Royal Assent on which Our Royal Assent has been notified as aforesaid the said Bill shall become an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent WITNESS Ourself at [...] the [...] day of [...] in the [...] year of Our Reign.

Once the Letters Patent are received and sealed, the bill becomes an act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(3) An order under this section may include such transitional, transitory or saving provision as the Executive Office considers appropriate.

As of July 2016, two commencement orders have brought sections 84 and 112 of that act, respectively, into force.

A division of a bill or act is a component, generally numbered, dealing with increasingly discrete topics, equivalent to the chapters of a book.

The main body matter of an act is divided into parts, then chapters, then sections, then subsections, then paragraphs, then sub- and sub-sub-paragraphs (or "heads").

Schedules are then divided into parts, then chapters, then paragraphs, and then sub-paragraphs in the same way as the sections of the main body of the act.