Commentary on provisions of the Act Section 3: Amendment of date in section 2(3) etc
This section confers a power on the Secretary of State, by regulations (subject to the negative procedure), to amend the date specified in sections 2(3), 5(8)(a), 6(12)(a) or 6(14)(a). These provisions currently specify the date on which the Act was passed, that is 20 July 2023. Any regulations may only bring the relevant date forward and not specify an earlier date (subsection (5)). So, for example, regulations may amend the date in section 2(3) to substitute a later date than 20 July 2023; the effect of this would be that the duty to make arrangements for the removal applied to a person who entered the UK illegally on or after the revised date.