Expiry of period for Parliamentary
consideration
7. The Regulatory Reform Act provides that "where
a document [i.e. a proposal for an order] has been laid before
Parliament under section 6(1) [of the Act], no draft of an order
under section 1 to give effect (with or without variations) to
proposals in that document shall be laid before Parliament until
after the expiry of the period for Parliamentary consideration".[4]
The period for Parliamentary consideration is defined as sixty
days beginning on the day the proposal was laid before Parliament,
leaving aside from that reckoning "any time during which
Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which either House
is adjourned for more than four days".[5]
8. In preparing a draft order to give effect to the
proposal, a Minister is required to "have regard to any representations
made during the period for Parliamentary consideration and, in
particular, to any resolution or report of, or of any committee
of, either House of Parliament with regard to the document [i.e.
the proposal]."[6]
9. The proposal for the order was laid on 10 November
2003. Parliament was prorogued between 21 and 25 November 2003,
and was adjourned between 19 December 2003 and 4 January 2004.
The 60-day period for Parliamentary consideration expired on Friday
30 January 2004.
10. We have been obliged to make this report to the
House after the expiry of the period for Parliamentary consideration.
The delay in reporting has been necessitated by the need to seek
further information from the Department in the light of representations
made to us by respondents to the initial consultation. In order
to prepare the information we requested, the Department convened
a meeting with representatives of interested parties on 21 January.
Following that meeting, a response was sent to the Committee on
23 January.[7] In order
to take that response into account, the preparation and consideration
of a draft report were necessarily deferred past the 30 January
deadline.
11. In order to complete the scrutiny of this large
and complex proposal and to prepare a report for the House, it
was therefore necessary to report after the expiry of the 60-day
period. While we have hitherto always completed first-stage scrutiny
of proposals within the 60-day period, and will use our best endeavours
to do so in the future, we consider that in this case no adverse
consequences flow from our failure to complete this stage of our
scrutiny within the statutory period.
Structure of report
12. The report outlines the purpose of the proposal,
its background and its territorial extent, and analyses it against
the criteria set out in Standing Order No. 141(6).
13. Since the proposal consists of amendments to
seven separate areas of patent law, it is more convenient for
our analysis of the proposal against the criteria set out in our
standing order to be structured in two parts. First, the effect
of each of the individual proposals is described, followed by
our assessment of each against the criteria which apply to the
individual provisions of a proposal. Then the proposal is assessed
against the remaining criteria, which apply to the proposal as
a whole.
1 Copies of the proposal are available to Members of
Parliament from the Vote Office and to members of the public from
the Department. The proposal is also available on the Cabinet
Office website: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/act/proposals.htm
Back
2
The Patent Office, an executive agency of the Department of Trade
and Industry, is promoting the proposal. Unless otherwise stated,
all references to 'the Department' are to the Patent Office. Back
3
Standing Order No. 141(2) Back
4
Regulatory Reform Act 2001, section 8(1) Back
5
Ibid., section 8(2) and (3) Back
6
Ibid., section 8(4) Back
7
Appendix J Back
