Statutory Instruments Act 1946
The Statutory Instruments Act 1946 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament which governs the making of statutory instruments.
Until 2011 the act also governed Scottish statutory instruments made under acts of the Scottish Parliament. Until 2019, the act also governed Welsh statutory instruments made under acts of Senedd Cymru, acts of the National Assembly for Wales, and measures of the National Assembly for Wales.
The Statutory Rules Order 1979 provides a similar function for acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly.Definitions
The act defines statutory instruments as "orders, rules, regulations or other subordinate legislation" if the power is expressed through the royal prerogative through an Order in Council or in the case of a power conferred on a Minister of the Crown, a statutory instrument. The circularity of the definition means that any subordinate legislation exercisable by a minister is a statutory instrument and any subordinate instrument is subordinate legislation. Since the use of ministerial orders in 1992 and 2013 this definition is no longer completely true.Procedure
Draft statutory instruments
Consideration by committee
The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, in the House of Lords, and the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments in the House of Commons, are committees set up to consider statutory instruments tabled by ministers.Statutory instruments are required to be laid before Parliament.Revocation
Statutory instruments may be revoked by statutory instrument, or by another act of Parliament.Publication
Statutory instruments are published by the King's Printer. In the modern era, this means that they are available on legislation.gov.uk.