When you want to know when new legislation starts, you need to look at the date it is supposed to begin. This date is usually a certain number of months after a specific day or event, which we will call date A in the starting month. You count the months from the starting month to find the month when the legislation will start.

The legislation will start on the same day of the month as date A, if that day exists in the new month. If the new month does not have the same day as date A, the legislation will start on the last day of that month. This rule is used instead of what is said in section 56 about months in general. You follow this rule to find out when the legislation comes into force, which is the month that is the correct number of months after the starting month.