C.A.

7
ACTS OF PARLIAMENT ACT, 1960

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Form of Acts and Bills

1. Acts and Bills.
2. Title.
3. Words of enactment.
4. Subdivisions.

Procedure Following Passing of Bills

5. Preparation of presentation copies.
6. The President’s assent.
7. Numbering.
8. Original copies.
9. Publication.
10. Published copies to be evidence.

Commencement and Citation

11. Commencement.
12. Citation.

Miscellaneous and Supplemental

13. Amendment or repealed in the same session.
14. Evidence of pre-Republican Acts and Ordinances.
15. Commencement of this Act.
16. Repeal.
Schedule Forms.

C.A. 7
ACTS OF PARLIAMENT ACT, 19601(1)

AN ACT to provide for the form and commencement of Acts of Parliament, for the procedure
 following the passing of Bills and for other matters connected with Acts and Bills.

Forms of Acts and Bills

1. Acts and Bills

Sections 2, 3 and 4 shall apply with respect to the form of Acts of Parliament, and the form of Bills
shall correspond with those forms.

2. Title
An Act shall bear at the head a short title immediately followed by a long title describing the
provisions of the Act.

3. Words of enactment
The provisions of an Act shall be prefaced by the following words of enactment, which shall be taken
to extend to all sections of the Act and to the Schedules and any other provisions contained in the Act:
“Enacted by the President and Parliament”.2(2)

4. Subdivisions
An Act which contains more than one enactment shall be divided into sections and if a section
contains more than one enactment it shall be divided into subsections.

Procedure Following Passing of Bills

5. Preparation of presentation copies

(1) As soon as a Bill is passed by Parliament, the text of the Bill as passed shall be sent by the Clerk
of Parliament to the Government Printer, who shall print four copies of vellum or on paper of enduring
quality and send the copies to the Clerk of Parliament.
(2) On receiving the copies the Clerk
(a) shall carefully compare them with the text of the Bill as passed and if the Clerk finds them to
be correct shall sign on each copy a statement in the Form A set out in the Schedule, and
(b) shall present the copies to the President.
(3) Where the Bill was passed in accordance with the relevant provisions of Chapter Ten of the
Constitution, the Clerk shall, before causing the copies to be presented to the President, submit them to
the Speaker who, if satisfied that power to pass the Bill is conferred on Parliament in the manner provided
in the Constitution, shall sign on each copy a certificate in the Form B set out in the Schedule.

6. The President’s assent

(1) The President shall act in accordance with the relevant provisions of article 106 of the
Constitution and of Chapter Ten of the Constitution by signing on each copy of the Bill prepared in
accordance with section 5 a statement to that effect in the Form C set out in the Schedule to this Act, and
causing the Presidential Seal to be affixed to the Bill.
(2) Omitted.3(3)
 (3) Omitted.4(4)

7. Numbering
(1) Acts shall be numbered consecutively from the establishment of the Republic in accordance with
the order in which they became Acts, and the numbering shall not begin afresh at the commencement of a
calendar year, a new Parliament or any other period.
(2) As soon as the President has signed a copy of an Act under section 6, the Clerk shall enter on the
copy the number of the Act.

8. Original copies
(1) Where the procedure specified in sections 5, 6 and 7 purports to have been followed in relation to
copies of an Act, the copies are, for the purposes of this Act, the original copies of the Act and are
conclusive evidence of the terms of the Act, its number and the date of assent.
(2) The President shall retain one of the original copies and shall cause one each of the remainder to
be deposited with the Chief Justice, the Speaker and the Archivist.

9. Publication
Every Act shall be published in the Gazette in accordance with clause (11) of article 106 of the
Constitution as soon as may be after the President’s assent has been signified, and shall be so published,
(a) with the omission of the statements contained in the original copies by virtue of sections 5
and 6, but with the inclusion of a certificate given by the Speaker in accordance with
subsection (3) of section 5, and
(b) with the insertion of a statement of the date on which the President’s assent was signified,
and the date of the publication.5(5)

10. Published copies to be evidence

A copy of an Act, other than an original copy, purporting to have been printed or published by the
Government Printer is prima facie evidence of the terms of the Act, its number and the date of assent.

Commencement and Citation

11. Commencement
(1) Except so far as may be otherwise provided in an Act, the Act comes into operation at the
commencement of the day on which it is published in the Gazette.6(6)
(2) A provision in an Act regulating the coming into operation of the Act or a part of the Act shall
have effect although the part of the Act containing the provision has not come into operation.

12. Citation
The citation of the short title to an Act is sufficient to identify the Act.

Miscellaneous and Supplemental

13. Amendment or repealed in the same session
An Act passed in a session of Parliament may be amended or repealed in that session.

14. Evidence of pre-Republican Acts and Ordinances

(1) The original copy of an Act of the Constituent Assembly prepared under an order of that
Assembly, and an original copy of an Act and Ordinance passed or made after 31st December, 1954, and
prepared under the Ordinances Authentication Ordinance (Cap. 2) is conclusive evidence of the terms of
the Act or Ordinance and of the particulars relating to the Act or Ordinance entered on it.
(2) A copy of an Act or Ordinance referred to in subsection (1), which is a copy, other than an
original copy, purporting to have been printed or published by the Government Printer, is prima facie
evidence of the terms of the Act or Ordinance and of the particulars relating to the Act or Ordinance
appearing on it.

15. Commencement of this Act

Spent.7(7)

16. Repeal
Spent.8(8)

Schedule
FORMS

FORM A
FORM OF AUTHENTICATION STATEMENT

This printed impression has been carefully compared by me with the Bill which has passed
Parliament and found by me to be a true copy of that Bill.

Signed ..............................................................
Clerk of Parliament
Date of authentication ......................................

FORM B
FORM OF SPEAKER’S CERTIFICATE

I hereby certify that power to pass this Act has been conferred on Parliament in the manner
provided by the relevant provisions of the Constitution.
p y p

Signed ..............................................................
Speaker
Date of certificate ............................................

FORM C
FORM OF STATEMENT OF PRESIDENT’S ASSENT

I hereby signify my assent to this Bill.

Signed ..............................................................
President
Date of assent ..................................................
 Endnotes
1 (Popup - Footnote)
1. Passed on the 29th June, 1960. Its Preamble reads,
“WHEREAS by section 2 of the Constituent Assembly and Plebiscite Act, 1960 (No. 1) this Constituent
Assembly is authorised to enact such provisions for or in connection with the establishment of a new
Constitution as it thinks fit;
AND WHEREAS it is expedient to enact the provisions hereinafter appearing in consequence of the
enactment of the Constitution;
NOW THEREFORE be it enacted by the Constituent Assembly as follows:”
2 (Popup - Footnote)
2. Revised to take account of the 1992 Constitution. The enacting formula still stands for all Acts passed by
Parliament since clauses (10) and (13) of article 106 and clause (4) of article 291 and article 292 of the Constitution
are mandatory provisions which require the President to assent to the relevant Bills.
3 (Popup - Footnote)
3. As inappropriate having regard to the relevant provisions of articles 106 and Chapter Ten of the Constitution,
4 (Popup - Footnote)
4. See note 3. The subsections read:
“(2) Where assent is given to a part only of a Bill the Clerk shall make in each copy of the Bill so prepared
such deletions, and such amendments of figures, punctuation and grammar, as may be necessary for
the purpose of the conversion of that part of the Bill into an Act; and the Bill shall thereafter be
deemed to have been passed as so altered.
(3) A Bill or, as the case may be, a part thereof shall become an Act of Parliament on the signature by the
President of the first of the said copies.”
5 (Popup - Footnote)
5. This is consequent on clause (11) of article 106 of the Constitution.
6 (Popup - Footnote)
6. This is in compliance with clause (11) of article 106 of the Constitution.
7 (Popup - Footnote)
7. The section provided for the commencement of this Act at the same time as the 1960 Constitution, that is the
1st day of July, 1960.
8 (Popup - Footnote)
8. The section provided for the repeal of the Ordinances Authentication Ordinance (Cap. 2).