Overview of the Act and General Notes Interpretation Part 1: Emissions Reduction Targets Inserted section A5 (Alteration of budget periods)
22.As explained above, inserted section A4(3) requires Scottish carbon budgets (other than the final budget) to be set for a 5 year period. Inserted section A5 allows the Scottish Ministers, by regulations, to change that provision so that budgets can be set for a different period. The power can only be used for the purpose of achieving alignment between the budget periods and similar periods under international agreements to which the United Kingdom is a party.
23.Regulations under inserted section A5 will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny under the affirmative procedure. This is because section 96(4) of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 applies the affirmative procedure by default to any regulations made under a section of that Act. Section 96(4) is relevantly modified by paragraph 5 of schedule 3 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, which requires section 96(4) of the 2009 Act to be read as referring to the affirmative procedure as defined by section 29 of the 2010 Act.