STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS ACT, 1947

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR AND REGULATE THE PRINTING, NOTICE OF MAKING, NUMBERING AND MODE OF CITATION OF ORDERS, REGULATIONS, RULES, SCHEMES AND BYE-LAWS MADE UNDER STATUTORY AUTHORITY, AND TO PROVIDE FOR CERTAIN OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTERS AFORESAID. [20th December, 1947.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—(1) In this Act—

the word “statute” means any statute being—

• (a) a pre-union Irish statute, or

• (b) a British statute, or

• (c) a Saorstát Éireann statute, or

• (d) an Act of the Oireachtas (whether passed before or after this Act);

the expression “statutory instrument” means an order, regulation, rule, scheme or bye-law made in exercise of a power conferred by statute.

• (2) References in this Act to a statute shall, if that statute has been adapted by or under any enactment, be construed as references to that statute as so adapted.

2 Statutory instruments to which this Act primarily applies.

2.—(1) This Act primarily applies to every statutory instrument which-—

• (a) is made on or after the 1st day of January, 1948, and

• (b) is made by any of the following authorities, namely:—

• (i) the President,

• (ii) the Government,

• (iii) any member of the Government,

• (iv) any Parliamentary Secretary,

• (v) any person or body, whether corporate or unincorporate, exercising throughout the State any function of government, or discharging throughout the State any public duties in relation to public administration,

• (vi) any authority having for the time being power to make rules of court, and

• (c) is either—

• (i) required by statute to be laid before both or either of the Houses of the Oireachtas, or

• (ii) is of such a character as affects the public generally or any particular class or classes of the public, and

• (d) is not a statutory instrument which is required by a statute to be published in the Iris Oifigiúil.

• (2)
• (a) If the Attorney-General certifies in writing that, in his opinion, a particular person or body is an authority of the class mentioned in subparagraph (v) of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section, such person or body shall be deemed, for the purposes of the said subsection (1) to be an authority of that class.

• (b) If the Attorney-General certifies, in writing that, in his opinion, statutory instruments of a particular class (defined in such manner and by reference to such things as the Attorney-General thinks proper) are of the character described in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section, such statutory instruments shall be deemed, for the purposes of the said subsection (1), to be statutory instruments of that character.

• (3) Whenever—

• (i) it is proposed to make a particular statutory instrument which, if made, would be, by virtue of subsection (1) of this section, a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies, and

• (ii) the Attorney General is of opinion that, by reason of its merely local or personal application or its temporary operation or its limited application or for any other reason, the said statutory instrument, if made, should be exempted from the operation of subsection (1) of section 3 of this Act,

the Attorney General may direct that the said instrument, if made, shall be so exempted, and in that case, the said statutory instrument, if made, shall not be a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies.

• (4) Whenever the Attorney General is of opinion that statutory instruments (being statutory instruments to which this Act primarily applies by virtue of subsection (1) of this section) of a particular class (defined in such manner and by reference to such things as the Attorney General thinks proper) should, because of their merely local or personal application or their temporary operation or their limited application or for any other reason, be exempted from the operation of subsection (1) of section 3 of this Act, he may direct that all statutory instruments of that class shall be so exempted, and in that case, any statutory instrument of that class made on or after the date of the direction, shall not be a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies.

• (5)
• (a) Every certificate or direction given by the Attorney– General under this section shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil.

• (b) Prima facie evidence of any certificate or direction given by the Attorney-General under this section may be given by the production of a copy of the Iris Oifigiúil purporting to contain such certificate or direction.

3 Printing, notice of making, etc., of statutory instruments to which this Act primarily applies and supplementary provisions.

3.—(1) The following provisions shall apply in respect of every statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies—

• (a) within seven days after the making thereof, a copy thereof shall be sent to each of the following, namely, the National Library of Ireland, the Law Library Four Courts, Dublin, the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, the Cork Chamber of Commerce, the Limerick Chamber of Commerce, the Waterford Chamber of Commerce and the Galway Chamber of Commerce,

• (b) as soon as may be-after it is made, it shall, notwithstanding that it is liable to be annulled, be printed under the superintendence of the Stationery Office,

• (c) as soon as may be after it has been printed, notice of the making thereof and of the place where copies thereof may be obtained shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil,

• (d) as on and from the date of the issue of the Iris Oifigiúil containing the said notice, copies of the said statutory instrument shall be kept at the place specified in the said notice and may be obtained there.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section the validity or effect or the coming into operation of any statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies shall not be affected by any non-compliance with subsection (1) of this section.

• (3) Where—

• (a) a person (in this subsection referred to as the defendant) is charged with the offence of contravening (whether by act or omission) a provision in a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies, and

• (b) the prosecutor does not prove that, at the date of the alleged contravention, notice of the making of the said statutory instrument had been published in the Iris Oifigiúil,

the charge shall be dismissed, unless the prosecutor satisfies the Court that at the said date reasonable steps had been taken for the purpose of bringing the purport of the said instrument to the notice of the public or of persons likely to be affected by it or of the defendant.

• (4) The production of a copy (purporting to be published by the Stationery Office or to be published by the authority of the Stationery Office) of a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies, having printed thereon a statement that notice of the making of the said statutory instrument was published in a particular issue of the Iris Oifigiúil, shall in any proceedings be prima facie evidence that such notice was published in that issue of the Iris Oifigiúil.

• (5) Nothing in this section shall be construed as restricting the printing and publication of any statutory instrument which is not a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies.

4 Numbering statutory instruments.

4.—(1) The Stationery Office shall assign to each statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies and may assign to any other statutory instrument printed and published by the Stationery Office a number as of the year in which it is made, and, where any such number is so assigned to a statutory instrument, there shall be printed conspicuously on the face thereof,—

• (a) if it is drawn up in the Irish language, the following inscription, namely, “I.R. Uimh. (the said number) de (the said year).”, or

• (b) if it is drawn up in the English language, the following inscription, namely, “S.I. No. (the said number) of (the said year).”.

• (2) Non-compliance with subsection (1) of this section shall not affect the validity or the coming into force of any statutory instrument.

5 Citation of statutory instruments.

5.—Any statutory instrument may, without prejudice to any other mode of citation, be cited by—

• (a) if the inscription referred to in subsection (1) of section 4 of this Act is printed on its face, that inscription, or

• (b) the mode of citation authorised by such statutory instrument.

6 Repeals.

6.—(1) The Rules Publication Act, 1893, is hereby repealed.

• (2) So much of any British statute as purports to require—

• (a) a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies to be published in the London Gazette, or

• (b) notice of the making of a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies to be published in the London Gazette,

is hereby repealed.

7 Short title and commencement.

7.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Statutory Instruments Act, 1947.

• (2) This Act shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1948.