Identity Cards Bill (2004)

(1) The Secretary of State must not make an order containing (with or without other provision) any provision for compulsory registration unless

(a) a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House; and

(b) each of the resolutions for approving the draft was agreed more than 60 days after the day on which the draft was laid before the House in question.

(2) No draft order containing provision for compulsory registration is to be laid before Parliament unless

(a) the Secretary of State has prepared and published a report containing a proposal for the making of such provision;

(b) the report sets out the Secretary of State’s reasons for making the proposal;

(c) the report has been laid before Parliament and each House has approved the proposal contained in the report, either with or without modifications; and

(d) the draft order gives effect to the proposal so far as approved by both Houses.

(3) An approval given in either House satisfies the requirements of subsection (2)(c) only if it was given in that House on the first occasion on which a motion for the approval of the proposal was made in that House by a Minister of the Crown after

(a) the laying of the report; or

(b) if more than one report containing that proposal has been laid before that House, the laying of the one laid most recently.

(4) The Secretary of State must not make an order which

(a) contains (with or without other provision) any provision that he is authorised to make by section 6, but

(b) is not an order containing provision for compulsory registration, unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House.

(5) In reckoning a period of 60 days for the purposes of subsection (1), no account shall be taken of a day for which

(a) Parliament is dissolved or prorogued; or

(b) the House in question is adjourned as part of an adjournment of more than four days.

(6) References in this section to provision for compulsory registration are references to any provision that the Secretary of State is authorised to make by section 6 the effect of which is to impose an obligation on individuals to be entered in the Register from a time when they would not otherwise be subject to such an obligation.

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EXPLANATORY NOTES

Clause 7: Procedures for orders under s. 6

50. This clause sets out the procedures for the so called "super-affirmative" process which would apply to compulsory registration. This means that if the Government decides that it wishes to make registration compulsory, whether or not a person applies for a designated document, it must proceed in the following stages:

• The Government must publish in a report its reasons for wanting to make registration compulsory, including a proposal for how compulsion will operate, for example the particular categories of individual to whom the requirement would apply and the timetable for its implementation (subsection (2)(a) and (b));

• Both Houses of Parliament must debate and vote on the proposal and they may modify the proposal (subsection (2)(c));

• The Government would lay a draft order consistent with the proposal approved by both Houses;

• The draft order so laid would then need to be approved by both Houses (subsection (1) and subsection (2)(d)).

51. If either House did not approve the proposal or the Government was not content with the proposal as modified by either House, it must start the process again with a fresh report and proposal if it decides to make the case again for a move to compulsion (subsection (3));

52. Subsection (4) provides that if the Government wishes to make changes to the compulsion provision which do not have the effect of "increasing" the degree of compulsion, for example, lowering the age beyond which it would not be compulsory to register, it does not need to go through the "super-affirmative" process but may do so through an order subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.

53. Subsection (5) sets out how the calculation should be made of the 60 days required between the laying and approving of the draft order mentioned above.

54. Subsection (6) defines the term compulsory registration.

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Amendments up to and including Friday 14th January 2005 page 3

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Mr Richard Allan Mr Alistair Carmichael

*Clause 7, page 6, leave out lines 7 to 45 and insert 'authorised to do so by further primary legislation which comes into force within six months of his making of any such order.'.

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Mr Richard Allan
Mr Alistair Carmichael

Clause 7, page 6, line 45, at end add—
'(7) Orders made under section 6 shall be considered to be primary legislation for the purposes of the Human Rights Act 1998.'.

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Mr Richard Allan
Mr Alistair Carmichael

Page 6, line 4, leave out Clause 7.