Annex D - Glossary
Affirmative resolution procedure: a type of parliamentary procedure that applies to statutory instruments (SIs) and describes the form of scrutiny that the SI receives from Parliament. Both Houses of Parliament must actively approve an SI laid under the affirmative procedure before it can become law.
Chapter: A grouping of clauses under a subheading within a Part of an Act.
Clause: The basic unit of an Act, divided into subsections, then paragraphs, then sub-paragraphs. Once the Bill becomes an Act, a clause becomes a section.
Commencement: The coming into effect of legislation. In the absence of a commencement provision, the Act comes into force from the beginning of the day on which Royal Assent was given (at midnight).
Genetic Resources: The Convention on Biological Diversity defines Genetic Resources as genetic material of actual or potential value. It further defines Genetic Material as any material of plant, animal, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity. 1
Long title: The passage at the start of a bill that begins "A Bill to..." and then lists its purposes. This defines the scope of the Bill and as such, the content of the bill must be covered by the long title.
Negative resolution procedure: An SI laid under the negative procedure becomes law on the day the Minister signs it (when it is made) and remains law unless a motion, or ‘prayer’, to reject it is agreed by either House within 40 sitting days.
Part: A grouping of clauses under a heading in the body of an Act. Also, a subdivision of a Schedule.
Retained EU legislation: As the UK leaves the EU, the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 will convert the body of existing EU law into domestic law and preserve the body of laws made in the UK to implement EU obligations. "Retained EU legislation" refers to this these bodies of legislation.
Retained direct EU legislation: is defined in section 20 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Any direct EU legislation forms part of domestic law by virtue of section 3 of that Act, and includes directly applicable EU regulations, decisions or tertiary legislation. It does not include the body of domestic laws made in the UK to implement EU obligations.
Regulation: secondary legislation made through SIs.
Schedule: Acts may have Schedules that appear after the main clauses in the text. They are often used to spell out in more detail how the provisions of the Act are to work in practice. Parliamentarians can still amend Schedules.
Section: When the bill becomes an Act, "clauses" become "sections" but the names of the other subdivisions stay the same.
Short title: The title by which a bill is known during its passage through Parliament; for example, "Agriculture Bill", and when it becomes an Act the "Agriculture Act 2020".
Statutory instrument: Statutory instruments are the most common form of secondary (or delegated) legislation.
Territorial application: Territorial application refers to the territory where an Act (or provisions of an Act) has a practical effect.
Territorial extent: The extent of a Act refers to the legal jurisdiction of which an Act, or provisions of an Act, will become a part. There are three legal jurisdictions in the UK: (1) England and Wales, (2) Scotland and (3) Northern Ireland. The extent of an Act or provision can be different from its application.