Schedule 5: Minor and consequential amendments in connection with Part 3 Paragraphs 9(6) and (8) and 10 Background
Approved Documents provide practical guidance on compliance with building regulations requirements. Currently there are Approved Documents to accompany each of the Parts of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations (the functional requirements). No bodies are currently designated to approve documents.
	When changes are made to building regulations, a transitional period is usually provided to enable persons carrying out the work to become familiar with the new requirements.
	Section 7 provides that failure to follow guidance in an Approved Document can be relied upon as tending to establish liability if a contravention of building regulations’ requirements is alleged and conversely proof of following guidance in Approved Documents can be taken as tending to negative liability.
Example
The Secretary of State decides to designate the Building Safety Regulator as the body to approve documents to give guidance on Part B (fire safety) for the purposes of the building regulations in England. The Secretary of State must make an order to this effect (which is a statutory instrument). If there were some revisions that needed to be made to the guidance on Part B, the Building Safety Regulator will first need to obtain the consent of the Secretary of State before it can approve this revised document.
The Secretary of State designates the Building Safety Regulator as the body to approve documents to give guidance on Part A (structure) for the purposes of the building regulations in England. The Secretary of State would like the Building Safety Regulator only to approve guidance about specific provisions detailed within Part A. The order made by the Secretary of State that designates the Building Safety Regulator to approve guidance about Part A may therefore explicitly state for instance that the Building Safety Regulator can approve documents in relation to A1 (loading) but not A2 (ground movement).