Commentary on Sections Part 1: Referendums Section 5: Referendum period
40.Section 5 requires the Secretary of State to set, by order, the referendum period for each assembly referendum. This relates to provisions in Part 7 of the PPER Act which impose limits on expenditure and controls on the publication of referendum-related material during the referendum period. This period will generally need to be a minimum of 10 weeks (by virtue of sections 103 and 109 of the PPER Act).