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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS ACT, 1959
(NO. 52 OF 1959)
As amended
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Short Title, Commencement and
Repeals.
2. Interpretation.
3. Statutory Instruments.
4. Legislative Instruments.
5. Executive Instruments.
6. Making of Instruments in
Advance.
7. Limitation of Power to Modify
Acts.
8. Multiple Exercise of Powers.
9. Penalties.
10. Instruments Required to be
Laid before Assembly.
11. Instruments Subject to
Annulment.
12. Reckoning of Time.
13. Commencement of Instrument.
14. Amendment and Revocation.
15. Citation of Instrument.
16. Effect of Failure to Publish
or Lay before Assembly.
17. Power to make Instruments for
Purposes of this Act.
17A. Repeal.
GHANA
NO. 52 OF 1959
Assented to in Her Majesty's Name
and on Her Majesty's behalf this
11th day of November, 1959.
LISTOWEL
Governor-General.
AN ACT to amend the law relating
to instruments made under
statutory powers.
Date of Commencement.
[11th November, 1959, subject to
section 1(2).]
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's Most
Excellent Majesty, by and with the
advice and consent of the National
Assembly of Ghana in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the
authority of the same as follows:—
Section 1—Short Title,
Commencement and Repeals.
(1) This Act may be cited as the
Statutory Instruments Act, 1959.
(2) Sections 4, 5, 8 and 17 of
this Act shall come into operation
on such date as the
Attorney-General may by order
appoint.
(3) Except where otherwise
expressly provided, this Act shall
apply in relation to Acts and
statutory instruments whether
passed or made before or after the
passing of this Act.
No. 29 of 1957.
(4) Sections 12, 13 and 14 of the
Interpretation Act, 1957 are
hereby repealed.
(5) In so far as they apply in
relation to statutory instruments,
the following provisions of the
Interpretation Act, 1957 are also
hereby repealed, namely, sections
4 to 10, subsection (2) of section
11 and section 25.
Section 2—Interpretation.
In this Act—
"Act" includes an Ordinance and an
Order of Her Majesty in Council;
"Assembly" means the National
Assembly;
"enactment" means a provision
contained in an Act, but does not
include any provision laying down
the legislative powers of
Parliament;
"instrument" has its natural
meaning and shall not be construed
by reference to the definition
thereof contained in section 3 of
the Interpretation Act, 1957.
Section 3—Statutory Instruments.
An instrument made (whether
directly or indirectly) under a
power conferred by an enactment
shall be known as a statutory
instrument.
Section 4—Legislative Instruments.
(1) The Attorney-General may by
legislative instrument declare
that statutory instruments made
under enactments specified therein
are legislative in character and
of sufficient importance to
justify separate publication.
(2) Statutory instruments made
under enactments specified under
subsection (1) or under powers
expressed to be exercisable by
legislative instrument shall be
known as legislative instruments.
(3) Legislative instruments shall
be published by the Government
Printer and, if a legislative
instrument is published otherwise
than in the Gazette, a notice of
its publication shall be inserted
as soon as may be in the Gazette.
Section 5—Executive Instruments.
Statutory instruments other than
legislative instruments or
instruments of a judicial
character shall be known as
executive instruments.
Section 6—Making of Instruments in
Advance.
Subject to the provisions of
section 13 of this Act, a
statutory instrument may be made
under an enactment contained in
any Act at any time after the
passing of the Act notwithstanding
that the said enactment has not
come into operation.
Section 7—Limitation of Power to
Modify Acts.
An enactment conferring power to
make a statutory instrument shall
not be taken to authorise the
inclusion in the instrument of any
provision amending, repealing or
conflicting with any enactment
except as may be expressly stated
in the enactment conferring the
said power.
Section 8—Multiple Exercise of
Powers.
(1) A statutory instrument may be
made—
(a) by one authority under two or
more separate powers;
(b) by two or more authorities
jointly under one or more separate
powers vested in each of them.
(2) One statutory instrument may
be made under powers variously
expressed as powers to make rules,
regulations or other different
descriptions of legislative
instrument or under powers
variously expressed as powers to
make orders, directions or other
different descriptions of
executive instrument, and the
provisions of the instrument may
be described as being of one of
those descriptions.
This subsection shall apply in
relation to a power expressed
merely as a power to make a
legislative instrument or an
executive instrument as it applies
in relation to a power expressed
as a power to make a particular
description of legislative
instrument or executive
instrument.
(3) Nothing in this section shall
authorise the making of a
legislative instrument partly
under a power to make an executive
instrument or the making of an
executive instrument partly under
a power to make a legislative
instrument.
Section 9—Penalties.
(1) There may be included in a
statutory instrument containing a
prohibition or requirement, a
provision where a person failing
to comply with that prohibition or
requirement is made liable to
penalties.
(2) Any penalty prescribed for an
offence by virtue of this section
shall not exceed a fine of ¢5
million or imprisonment for one
year or both; and in the case of a
continuing offence, an additional
penalty not exceeding ¢100,000.00
in respect of each day on which
the offence continues may be
prescribed by the instrument. [As
Substituted by the Statutory
Instruments (Amendment) Act, 1997
(Act 539)].
Section 10—Instruments Required to
be Laid before Assembly.
Where by any Act a statutory
instrument is required to be laid
before the Assembly after being
made, a copy of the instrument
shall be so laid in accordance
with Standing Orders of the
Assembly at least seven days
before the instrument is to come
into operation:
Provided that if a Minister
notifies the Speaker that it is
essential that an instrument
should come into operation before
the preceding provisions of this
section can be complied with,
those provisions need not be
complied with but a copy of the
instrument shall be laid as
aforesaid as soon as is
practicable after it has been
made, whether or not it has
already come into operation.
Section 11—Instruments Subject to
Annulment.
Where by any Act a statutory
instrument is declared to be
subject to annulment by the
Assembly—
(a) the instrument shall be laid
before the Assembly after being
made; and
(b) if within twenty days
beginning with the day on which
the instrument is so laid the
Assembly resolves that the
instrument be annulled the
instrument shall be deemed to be
revoked, but without prejudice to
the making of a further
instrument.
Section 12—Reckoning of Time.
In reckoning any period of seven
or twenty days for the purpose of
either of the two last preceding
sections, no account shall be
taken of any time during which the
Assembly is dissolved or prorogued
or is adjourned for more than
three days.
Section 13—Commencement of
Instrument.
(1) A statutory instrument shall
come into operation on the date
specified in that behalf in the
instrument or if no date is so
specified, then—
(a) in the case of a legislative
instrument made after the coming
into operation of section 4 of
this Act, [As Inserted by Official
Publication Act, 1959 (No. 85 of
1959) s. 4a].
(b) in any case, on the date on
which thee instrument is made: [As
Substituted by Official
Publication Act, 1959 (No. 85 of
1959) S. 4b)].
Provided that (No. 85 of 1959) is
made after passing but before the
coming into operation of the
enactment under which it is made,
the instrument whether or not it
is previously published, shall not
come into operation before the
date on which the said enactment
comes into operation.
(2) A statutory instrument may
provide that it shall come into
operation on a date earlier than
the making thereof, not being a
date earlier than the coming into
operation of the enactment under
which it is made:
Provided that no person shall be
deemed to be guilty of an offence
under the instrument in respect of
anything done or omitted to be
done before the making thereof.
Section 14—Amendment and
Revocation.
(1) Where an Act confers power to
make a statutory instrument, the
Act shall, unless the context
otherwise requires, be deemed also
to confer power, exercisable by
the like authority and in the like
manner, to amend or revoke the
instrument.
(2) Repealed by the Interpretation
Act, (CA 4), s. 34)
(3) Where a statutory instrument
is amended by an Act or further
statutory instrument the
Attorney-General may authorise the
reprinting of the whole or a part
of the instrument in a form which
gives effect to the amendments
thereto; and when published by
authority the instrument or part
thereof as so reprinted shall be
conclusive evidence of the
provisions of the amended
instrument or part.
Section 15—Citation of Instrument.
(1) It shall be sufficient for all
purposes to cite a statutory
instrument made on or after the
first day of January, 1960, either
by the title set out at the head
of the instrument on publication
or by the number allotted to the
instrument on publication and the
calender year.
(2) If an incorrect title is given
to an instrument so made on
publication the authority by whom
the instrument was made may by
notice in the Gazette correct the
title, and subsection (1) shall
thereafter have effect as if the
corrected title had been set out
at the head of the instrument on
publication.
Section 16—Effect of Failure to
Publish or Lay before Assembly.
Failure to observe any requirement
imposed by this or any other Act
as to the publication of a
statutory instrument or the laying
thereof before the Assembly shall
not invalidate the instrument, but
the Assembly may at any time
resolve that an instrument as
respects which any such
requirement has not been observed
shall be deemed never to have come
into operation or shall be deemed
to be revoked.
Section 17—Power to make
Instruments for Purposes of this
Act.
(1) The Attorney-General may by
legislative instrument—
(a) amend the provisions or any
Act conferring power to make
statutory instruments, being an
Act passed before the coming into
operation of this section, so as
to bring those provisions into
conformity with this Act or
otherwise for the purposes of this
Act;
(b) make such other provision as
appears expedient for the purposes
of this Act.
(2) An instrument made under this
section shall be subject to
annulment by the Assembly.
Section 17A—Repeal.
Statutory Instruments (Amendment)
Law, 1991(PNDCL 249).[Inserted and
to be cited as the Statutory
Instruments (Amendment) Act, 1997
(Act 539), s.2]
This printed impression has been
carefully compared by me with the
Bill which has passed the National
Assembly, and found by me to be a
true and correctly printed copy of
the said Bill.
K. B. AYENSU.
Clerk of the National Assembly.
As amended by
OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS ACT, 1959
(NO. 85 OF 1959)1.
INTERPRETATION ACT, 1960 (C.A.
4)2.
STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS (AMENDMENT)
ACT, 1997 (ACT 539)3.
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