Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006
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| Long title | An Act to enable provision to be made for the purpose of removing or reducing burdens resulting from legislation and promoting regulatory principles; to make provision about the exercise of regulatory functions; to make provision about the interpretation of legislation relating to the European Communities and the European Economic Area; to make provision relating to section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972; and for connected purposes. |
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| Citation | 2006 c 51 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 8 November 2006 |
| Commencement | 8 January 2007 |
| History of passage through Parliament | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c 51) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was enacted to replace the Regulatory Reform Act 2001 (RRA). The Act was and remains very controversial, because of a perception that it is an Enabling Act substantially removing the ancient British constitutional restriction on the Executive introducing and altering laws without assent or scrutiny by Parliament, and it has been called the "Abolition of Parliament Act".
The bill which became the Act was brought before the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in early 2006. As originally drafted, the Bill was controversial, as it would have granted government ministers wide powers to make secondary legislation that could amend, repeal or replace any primary legislation or secondary legislation (known as a Henry VIII clause). The government proposed numerous amendments to the Bill on 4 May 2006 and 10 May 2006, to address certain criticisms of the Bill's scope and lack of safeguards.
The Bill received its third reading in the House of Commons on 16 May 2006, and moved to the House of Lords. After its first and second readings, the bill was reported with amendments on 19 July 2006, before the summer recess. Its report stage in the House of Lords took place on 26 October 2006, and it received royal assent on 8 November 2006.
The first Part of the Bill, entitled "Power to reform legislation", permits a government minister to make Statutory Instruments to reform legislation that is perceived to be "outdated, unnecessary or over-complicated". A similar procedure is possible under the existing RRA, which permits a minister to make Regulatory Reform Orders (RROs). A review of the first 4 years of operation of the RRA, published by the Cabinet Office in July 2005, concluded that the RRA "presented a number of hurdles which inhibited the production of RROs", its powers were "too technical and limited", and the procedure should be "extended to deliver non-controversial proposals for simplification".
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