A proposed new law passes through several stages before it becomes a law. Notification is the final stage of the process. Acts and certain legislative instruments must be formally notified and made publicly available for them to become legally effective. PCO is responsible for notifying the community of new laws by publishing on the legislation register a statement that the Act or instrument has been made and the text of the Act or instrument.
The following instruments are legislative instruments:
- subordinate laws (regulations, rules and by-laws)
- disallowable instruments (eg determinations of fees, certain appointments and declarations)
- notifiable instruments (eg public roads notices, certain appointments, approved forms)
- commencement notices (notify the date when legislation will commence)
ACT legislation has been notified on the legislation register instead of the government gazette since 12 September 2001.
Notifications can be accessed on the legislation register at legislation.act.gov.au/notifications.
If you are an ACT government officer or cabinet liaison officer with responsibility for drafting instruments, you may find the following documents useful:
- ACT legislation register--outline of requirements for notification of legislative instruments [PDF 245.4 KB]
- Sample documents for notification of legislative instruments on the legislation register [PDF 141.8 KB]
Instrument templates
- Disallowable instrument Word template [Word 20.3 KB]
- Disallowable instrument Explanatory statement Word template [Word 19.6 KB]
- Notifiable instrument Word template [Word 20.1 KB]
- Commencement notice Word template [Word 19.7 KB]
- Disallowance or Amendment Resolution Word template [Word 20.3 KB]
- Subordinate law Explanatory statement Word template [Word 19.6 KB]
Some instruments (emergency instruments) can commence before notification on the Legislation Register (www.legislation.act.gov).
Templates for these emergency instruments are set out below. For templates for other instruments go to Information for ACT government officers and notification officers.
- Animal Diseases s 12 Declaration [Word 20.3 KB]
- Animal Diseases s 15 Declaration [Word 21.1 KB]
- Animal Diseases s 16 (1) Declaration [Word 20.3 KB]
- Animal Diseases s 16 (2) Declaration [Word 20.6 KB]
- Animal Diseases s 19 Declaration [Word 17.5 KB]
- Animal Diseases s 20 Declaration [Word 20.8 KB]
- Emergencies (State of Alert) Declaration [Word 17.1 KB]
- Emergencies (State of Emergency) Declaration [Word 20.4 KB]
- Emergency Declaration [Word 20.1 KB]
- Plant Diseases s 5 Declaration [Word 20.4 KB]
- Plant Diseases s 7 Declaration [Word 20.4 KB]
- Plant Diseases s 8 Declaration [Word 20.5 KB]
- Plant Diseases s 10 Declaration [Word 20.9 KB]
- Plant Diseases s 12 Declaration [Word 17.5 KB]
- Public Health Declaration [Word 20.3 KB]
For more information see the Procedure for requesting notification of an instrument outside of normal business hours.