4Overview of this Act

1. In this Act,—

2. this Part contains the purpose of this Act, definitions, and other preliminary provisions:
3. Part 2 provides for the interpretation and application of legislation, including—
   1. principles of interpretation and default definitions that apply (for example, a definition of working day):
   2. providing for rules that apply to the commencement, amendment, and repeal of legislation:
   3. general empowering provisions (for example, so that a power to prescribe a form can be used to prescribe required information and the method for supplying the required information in place of a form):
4. Part 3 provides for the drafting and publication of legislation, including by—
   1. setting drafting and publication responsibilities; and
   2. providing tools for correcting errors in legislation; and
   3. providing for revision programmes to revise New Zealand’s legislation:
5. Part 4 sets disclosure requirements for Government-initiated legislation:
6. Part 5 supports parliamentary oversight and control over secondary legislation through—
   1. providing for the House of Representatives to disallow all secondary legislation (with limited exceptions); and
   2. setting the deadlines for confirmation of secondary legislation (if confirmation by Parliament is required) and the consequences of not confirming:
7. Part 6 continues the PCO with the functions of drafting and publishing legislation and with associated functions that support the stewardship of New Zealand’s legislation:
8. Part 7 contains regulation-making powers and miscellaneous provisions.

9. This section is only a guide to the general scheme and effect of this Act.

10. See also—

11. the Imperial Laws Application Act 1988, which provides for this Act to apply to Imperial legislation; and
12. the Legislation (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2019, which contains repeals, revocations, and amendments to other legislation, as well as later amendments to this Act to require centralised publication of secondary legislation.