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MR 84-7E
WHEN DO ACTS COME
INTO FORCE?
Prepared by:
Jacques Rousseau, Peter Niemczak
Law and Government Division
30 March 1984
Revised 8 July 1990
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
A.
The Effective Date of Acts
B. The Procedure
WHEN DO ACTS
COME INTO FORCE?
INTRODUCTION
A distinction must first
be made between a bill and an Act. A bill which has been passed by the
Senate and the House of Commons remains a bill until it receives Royal
Assent. Thus a bill becomes an Act when it is assented to, although this
does not mean that the legislation comes into force automatically. Acts
may come into force in various ways and each Act must be examined to determine
which commencement mechanism applies.
A.
The Effective Date of Acts
If an Act does not contain
a provision specifying the date of commencement, the Interpretation
Act stipulates that in such instances, the Act comes into force on
the day it is assented to.(1)
An Act may contain a provision:
(a) fixing the date it becomes effective; b) stating that it comes
into force on the day it is assented to; c) stating that it comes into
force pursuant to an order issued by the Governor in Council.
B. The Procedure
As an example, we will use
the date of coming into force of the Forgiveness of Debts (Sub-Saharan
Africa) Act.(2) This Act stipulates that it comes
into force upon order of The Governor in Council.(3)
In accordance with an order issued by the Governor in Council on 8 March
1990, the Forgiveness of Debts (Sub-Saharan Africa) Act came into
force on 25 March 1990.
The following sets out in
chronological order how the process works:
1) Bill C-10, the Forgiveness
of Debts (Sub-Saharan Africa) Act: a) adopted by the House of Commons
on 6 October 1989, the day on which it was given third reading; b) adopted
by the Senate on 14 December 1989, the day on which it was given third
reading.
2) Bill C-10 was given
Royal Assent on 15 December 1989 and became an Act.
3) The Forgiveness
of Debts (Sub-Saharan Africa) Act, was published in Part III of
the Canada Gazette, pursuant to the Statutory Instruments Regulations.(4)
4) The Act came into force
on 25 March 1990, pursuant to an order issued by the Governor in Council
on 8 March 1990.
5) The order was recorded
by the Clerk of the Privy Council, pursuant to section 6(b) of
the Statutory Instruments Act(5) and published in Part II of
the Canada Gazette,(6)
pursuant to section 11(3)(c) of the Statutory Instruments Regulations.
The recording and publication of an order issued by the Governor in
Council have no bearing on the coming into force of an Act.
(1) R.S.C. 1985, c. I-21, section
5(1) states:
The
Clerk of the Parliaments shall endorse on every Act, immediately after
its title, the day, month and year when the Act was assented to in Her
Majesty’s name and the endorsement shall be part of the Act.
(2) S.C. 1989 c. 25.
(3) Section 4: This Act shall come into
force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.
(4) The public Acts of each session of the Parliament
of Canada shall be published in Part III of the Canada Gazette.
(5) R.S.C. 1985, c. –S-22, as amended.
(6) The Canada Gazette Part I contains
notices of a general character, proclamations and various other statutory
notices. Part II contains all "regulations" as defined in the
Statutory Instruments Act, orders of the Governor in Council and
certain other statutory instruments. The purpose of Part III is to publish
public Acts as soon as possible following Royal Assent.
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