How Laws are made

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Legislation comes before the States Assembly in several forms:

As a brand new Law
As an Amendment Law that seeks to change an existing Law
As a Regulation (or an Amendment Regulation)
As an Order.

Sometimes the Assembly may debate a proposition by an individual States Member which seeks the introduction of a new Law or an amendment to an existing one; for example that it should be inscribed in law that rear seat belts should be used in vehicles.

If this initial proposition is adopted by the Assembly, the relevant Minister (or other body) with responsibility for the particular area (in the case of seat belts this would be the Minister for Infrastructure) is then tasked with instructing the Legislative Drafting Office to prepare a Draft Law which would give effect to the Assembly's decision. The Draft Law then has to be debated and approved by the Assembly.

Orders and Regulations

Both Regulations and Orders are made under enabling powers in Laws. The difference between the two is that Regulations are made by the States and must be lodged for debate and approval by the Assembly.

Orders are made by a Minister and require no approval from the States Assembly. They can be made at any time. An Order comes into force on the date specified in the Order. As a rule of thumb, Orders tend to be concerned with administrative details such as setting levels of fees and fines, forms, and standards to be applied, whereas Regulations tend to be more concerned with policy issues for which a States Assembly decision is appropriate, such as the setting up of procedures and rules. All Orders are tabled before the States Assembly so that States Members are aware of what Ministers have done. This does not in itself lead to a debate, but any States Member is able to lodge a proposition that asks the States Assembly to rescind an Order, if the States Member objects to what has been done.

Human Rights Compliance

Article 16 of the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000 requires that the Minister bringing forward a Draft Law makes and publishes a statement confirming that the Draft Law abides by the European Convention on Human Rights. In practice, this is included in the published version of the Draft Law when it is lodged as a proposition.

Amending a Draft Law or Regulations

If Members wish to amend a Draft Law or Draft Regulations then they must ensure that it is lodged for a minimum of two weeks before the debate (and for an amendment to any such amendment, a week before the debate).

The ‘First Reading’ is when the Bailiff announces to the Assembly that the Draft Law (or Draft Regulations) has been lodged.
The ‘Second Reading’ is divided into two parts: the principles and the individual Articles / Regulations.

The Principles: The proposer makes their opening speech and proposes the concept or general idea of the Law, known as the ‘principles’. The Assembly will then debate and vote on the principles. If the Assembly agrees to the principles, the Presiding Officer will ask the Chair of the relevant Scrutiny Panel or Review Panel whether the Panel wishes to ‘call in’ the draft Law for review. If a Panel decides to conduct a review it must report its findings back to the Assembly no later than the fourth meeting after the debate on the principles. If it decides not to conduct a review, the debate continues.

Individual Articles/Regulations: This is where each ‘provision’ (i.e. Article or Regulation) is considered in detail. They can be debated individually, taken together in portions, or as a whole (known as ‘en bloc’). Any member can request that any of the ‘provisions’ be voted upon separately.

The Assembly will vote on the provisions until they reach a proposed amendment to the draft Law or draft Regulations. The member seeking to amend the draft will outline their reasons for bringing forward the proposed change.

The Assembly will then debate and vote on the amendment(s) to that provision. If the amendment is rejected, the debate resumes and the Assembly will vote on the provision unamended. If adopted, the Assembly will vote on the provision as amended. This continues until all of the provisions and any amendments have been debated, completing the second reading.
After the Draft Law, or Draft Regulations, has been adopted in the Second Reading, the draft will be proposed in the Third Reading.

This final stage of a debate will generally be relatively short as most of the issues will have been raised during the previous stages.

However it is an opportunity for the Assembly to confirm that it wishes to proceed with the legislation, taking into account any amendments that may have been agreed.

Draft Laws and Regulations: what happens next?

Once a Draft Law is adopted in Third Reading, the Law is sent to the Law Officers to prepare a report and then to the Lieutenant-Governor requesting that the matter be laid before the Privy Council in order that Royal Assent can be given. Once the Law has been sanctioned in this way (this can take between three months and a year) it is registered in the Royal Court.

The Law comes into force on the day that is stated in the Law, or the Assembly may need to adopt a legislative Act to say when the Law comes into force.

Regulations do not require Royal Assent or registration in the Royal Court. They come into effect on the day specified in the Regulations (normally seven days after they are adopted).

How Laws are made

Orders and Regulations

Human Rights Compliance

Amending a Draft Law or Regulations

How is a Draft Law or Draft Regulations debated?

Draft Laws and Regulations: what happens next?