Charles III William, Duke of Rothesay Swinney government The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP Kate Forbes MSP Sixth session Alison Johnstone MSP Angela Constance MSP Dorothy Bain KC The Rt Hon Lord Carloway KC PC United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections Local elections Referendums Starmer ministry The Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP A Scottish statutory instrument (SSI; Scottish Gaelic: Ionnsramaid Reachdail na h-Alba) is subordinate legislation made by the Scottish Ministers, as well as subordinate legislation made by public bodies using powers provided to be exercisable by Scottish statutory instrument.
27] The Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 defines what a Scottish statutory instrument is.[1]: [Pt.
28–29) Before Scottish devolution, subordinate legislation applying only to Scotland was published as a subseries of the larger UK statutory instrument (SI) series.
[7][8] In other cases, an SSI may be used to bring into force parts of the law through so-called "commencement orders."
Act 1974, which applies to Scotland and makes provisions relating to ensuring safety in the workplace.
The phrase comes from laying before the house, which originally referred to the placing of a (physical) document on the table in the assembly chamber.
[6]: 5 That is, the committee considers whether the Ministers have the power to make that SSI under the enabling Act, whether the Scottish Parliament has the power to make law in that area under the Scotland Acts, and whether the provisions of the SSI are clear, consistent, and free of typographical errors.
The DPLRC and other committees report back to Parliament, which applies a varying level of scrutiny depending on the exact procedure for that SSI.
These are so-called special procedure orders (SPOs), and differ from SSIs subject to other types of procedure in that notice of SPOs must be posted in the Edinburgh Gazette (or a local newspaper, if the SPO relates to a particular area) and in that members of the public may object to an SPO.[1]: [s.
[9] While SSIs are separate from UK SIs, they generally appear to follow the same naming convention for rules, regulations, and orders.
These definitions were established by the so-called "Donoughmore Committee" of 1932, and recommended in official guidance published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
The Parliamentary Counsel Office recommends that, from 2016, rules only be used set out procedure for courts, tribunals and other bodies, and that regulations be used for everything else – including commencement orders.
[21] Orders of Council that are Scottish Statutory Instruments generally relate to higher education, for example under the powers in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 to make provision for the constitution of governing bodies or regulate the granting of degrees.
[23] The original power of the Court of Session to regulate stems from the College of Justice Act 1540, which provided the court with the "power to make such acts, statutes and ordinance as they shall think expedient for ordering of processes and the hasty expedition of justice."
Prior to this, following the 1532 establishment of the Court, the power to regulate was held by the Parliament of Scotland.
305] In addition to this main power, several other modern enactments confer the power to legislate, including the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003,[28]: [s. 21] and its amendments to the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995,[27]: [ss.
3] The recommended ways of citing an SSI are by its title – for example, The Letting Agent Registration (Scotland) Regulations 2016 – or by its year and number (e.g. S.S.I.
4] Some style guides recommend the use of both forms in a citation (as in The Letting Agent Registration (Scotland) Regulations 2016, S.S.I.