1.—(1) Where any Minister of the Crown exercises any power conferred on him by any Act of Parliament passed before the commencement of the Statutory Instruments Act, 1946,(1) to confirm or approve any orders or rules or regulations or other subordinate legislation made by an authority who is not a rule-making authority as defined in the Rules Publication Act, 1893(2), and the subordinate legislation so confirmed or approved, being of a legislative and not an executive character, is required to be laid before Parliament or the House of Commons, then, subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) of this Article, any document by which that power is exercised after the coming into operation of this Order shall be known as a statutory instrument, and the provisions of the Statutory Instruments Act, 1946, shall apply to that document accordingly.
(2) This Article shall not apply to any document which by virtue of subsection (2) of section one of the Statutory Instruments Act, 1946, is a statutory instrument within the meaning of that Act otherwise than by virtue of this Order or would be such an instrument but for regulations made under paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section eight of that Act(3).
2. Any document by which any power conferred by an Act mentioned in the first column of the Schedule to this Order to confirm subordinate legislation of the description mentioned in the second column of that Schedule is exercised after the coming into operation of this Order by the Ministers specified in the third column of that Schedule shall be known as a statutory instrument, and the provisions of the Statutory Instruments Act, 1946, shall apply to that document accordingly.
3. In this Order references to a Minister of the Crown include references to the Treasury, the Admiralty; the Board of Trade, and any other Government department.
4.—(1) This Order shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1948; and may be cited as the Statutory Instruments (Confirmatory Powers) Order, 1947.
(2) The Interpretation Act, 1889, shall apply to the interpretation of this Order as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.
E. C. E. Leadbitter