Overview of the Act and General Notes Interpretation Part 1: Emissions Reduction Targets Section 3: Next plan to follow setting of budgets
44.Section 3 of the Act sets the deadlines for the Scottish Ministers to lay before the Scottish Parliament first a draft climate change plan, and then the first finalised climate change plan.
45.Section 3(1) of the Act requires a draft plan to be laid before the Parliament within 2 months of the regulations setting the first Scottish carbon budgets coming into force. Regulations setting Scottish carbon budgets are to be made under the new section A4 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (see paragraphs 17 to 21 above).
46.Before the Scottish Ministers can lay a finalised climate change plan before the Parliament, section 35A of the 2009 Act requires a minimum period to have elapsed since they laid a draft plan before the Parliament. The minimum period is 120 days, but only 60 days during which the Parliament is dissolved or in recess can be counted towards the minimum period, therefore the period may be longer than 120 calendar days. The laying of a draft plan before the Parliament as required by section 3(1) of the Act will start the clock on the minimum period required by section 35A of the 2009 Act.
47.Section 3(3) of the Act modifies section 35 of the 2009 Act so that the Scottish Ministers must lay the first finalised climate change plan before the Parliament within 90 days of the stopping of the clock that started when a draft plan was laid before the Parliament as required by section 3(1) of the Act. In counting that 90 day period, only 45 days during which the Parliament is dissolved or in recess can be counted.
48.In summary, as a result of section 3 of the Act:
	a draft climate change plan has to be laid before the Parliament within 2 months of the first Scottish carbon budgets being set,
	it becomes lawful for the Scottish Ministers to lay a finalised plan before the Parliament 120 countable days after laying the draft plan (for this purpose a day is not a countable day if the Parliament is dissolved or in recess on the day and 60 days on which the Parliament was dissolved or in recess have already been counted),
	the Scottish Ministers must lay a finalised plan before the Parliament within 90 countable days of its becoming lawful to do so (for this purpose a day is not a countable day if the Parliament is dissolved or in recess on the day and 45 days on which the Parliament was dissolved or in recess have already been counted).