Editorial Update/Applying “coming into force” effects
What are “coming into force” effects?
There are various ways in which legislation may be brought into force, see Editorial Principles - Commencement for further details. “Coming into force” effects are used to capture commencement information in TOES during the Initial Edit and Record Effects tasks. These effects subsequently add commencement information to provisions via I-notes (“In Force” notes) that are generated:
- during the Initial Edit task that is carried out on new items of legislation in order for these documents to be deployed to the website as the “Latest Available (Revised)” version;
- when Commencement Order “coming into force” effects are applied during Editorial Update.
Revised legislation also includes a timeline of changes that is displayed in each provision, with the earliest date that a provision comes into force to any extent or for any purpose (or the basedate if that was later) as the first PiT (the start date). The in force dates that are recorded in TOES are included as ‘restrictstartdate’ attributes in the XML in the legislation data and these are used to set up the timeline, for example:
TOES data:
“Latest Available (Revised)” version on the website:
I-notes describe how an item of legislation comes into force, annotating a provision with its commencement details. The information entered during the Initial Edit task generates the “coming into force” effects that correspond with the I-notes that are included when the “Latest Available (Revised)” version gets deployed to the website. Note that all provisions get a “coming into force” effect in TOES after Initial Edit, even if they are still prospective. If a prospective provision is brought into force on a later date by a Commencement Order, another “coming into force” effect will be added to TOES when the Commencement Order effects are recorded during the Record Effects task and this effect will be applied during Editorial Update, when another I-note will be added in addition to the original one that came from the Initial Edit task.
It is often the case that the provisions of an item of legislation will not have in force dates when that document is originally published and these provisions remain ‘prospective’. In such cases, the ‘restrictstartdate’ attributes are left blank until a date is appointed, usually by Commencement Order. We apply these later in force dates through online update.
How “coming into force” effects get applied
“Coming into force” effects are auto-applied by the Editorial System during Editorial Update. The system will:
- Apply an I-note annotation citing the in force date and the commencement authority or Commencement Order which gives the authority to apply that date.
- If the provision was previously entirely prospective and is now in force, it will add a start date to the provision (this can be seen on the timeline for the provision in the preview). Note: The first date on the timeline for any provision will be the earliest date for which it came into force (for any purpose). Where the provision comes into force on multiple dates, a new PiT will be made for each date.
- If the ‘parent’ of the provision that is now in force was prospective, then the start date will also be added to the parent. If an earlier date was already on the parent (because another provision below it was already in force) then the existing start date will be retained, and a new PiT added for the coming into force of the provision that is being commenced. Note: The first date on the timeline for any “parent heading” will be the earliest date that any of its child provisions come into force (for any purpose).
- If the provision was previously entirely prospective but has a fixed future date (FFD) for coming into force it will still look prospective (although it will have an I-note detailing the FFD when it will come into force).
“Coming into force” effects added to TOES from data entered during the Initial Edit task
“Coming into force” effects that that get added to TOES from data entered during the Initial Edit task are auto-applied when the “Latest Available (Revised)” version is deployed to the website. They are treated slightly different depending on whether they are prospective, in force at Royal Assent (RA)/Made date or come into force within one month of this date, or whether they come into force more than 28 days after the RA/Made date.
Provisions that come into force on either Royal Assent(RA)/Made date or dates within one month of RA/Made date
When the “Latest Available (Revised)” version is deployed to the website, the “coming into force” effects for provisions coming into force on either Royal Assent (RA)/Made date or dates within one month of RA/Made date will be auto-applied by the Editorial System, the Edit Status will be marked as “Edit Complete”, and you will see a message message saying:
“Initial Edit Effects: This Coming into Force effect was added and reviewed by the initial edit task. No further action is necessary.”
The provision will get a start date and when you preview it, you should see the date that the provision comes into force as the first date on the timeline. There will be an I-note containing the details of the commencement of that provision:
Provisions that come into force more than 28 dates after RA/Made date
If a provision has a start date is more than 28 days after the Royal Assent or Made date of the document, it will show as prospective but with an I-note explaining that it comes into force at a fixed future date (FFD). Instead of getting a start date when the “Latest Available (Revised)” version is deployed to the website during Initial Edit (which would cause errors during editorial update if the provision subsequently got amended before it came into force), the application of the “coming into force” effect is completed during editorial update. This means that if there are subsequently any effects that need to be applied to the document before it comes into force, they can still be added to the update task (it is not possible to generate a PiT earlier than the start date of a provision). In the following update task, you can see there are 6 effects at an earlier PiT (which can be carried out as normal update), before the coming into force effects get applied on 12/10/2022 (when the provision will get a start date on the timeline):
Before the coming into force effects are applied on 12/10/2022, the provision still looks prospective (but note that the I-note detailing the commencement is visible, even though the effects haven’t been fully applied yet, which will happen when the 12/10/2022 PiT update task is carried out):
When you reach the commencement PiT in an update task with a “coming into force effect” more than 28 dates after RA/Made date, the “coming into force” effect update will be auto-applied and the Edit Status will be marked as “Edit Complete”. You will see a message saying:
“Initial Edit Effects: This Coming into Force effect was added and reviewed by the initial edit task. The start date needs to be checked for this provision.”
As the start date on the timeline has been generated during the update task rather than during Initial Edit, you need to check it is correct in the website preview as part of your editorial checks. Note that the I-note itself will have been reviewed during the Initial Edit task, before deployment to the website.
You can see what a document that comes into force at a FFD looks like when the coming into force effects have been applied in update here (the SI was made on 20/2/2018, but came into force on 1/10/2018):
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/230/introduction/made
Provisions that are not yet in force
If a provision is not in force when the revised version is deployed to the website, and it does not have a start date, its status will be prospective and there will be an I-note explaining it is not in force at RA/Made date:
When the provision is brought into force by a Commencement Order, it will have an I-note added via a Commencement Order “coming into force” effect as detailed in the next section.
Note: “not in force” I-note should not be removed when a provision is later brought into force by a commencement order because the original I-note forms part of the story of the commencement. For example:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/411/regulation/1/2019-03-25
“Coming into force” effects entered into TOES during Commencement Order Record Effects tasks
When a Commencement Order brings existing legislation into force we record the resulting effect as a “coming into force” effect. These are identified, recorded and researched during the preparation stages of the editorial process. These “coming into force” effects are auto-applied by the editorial system during an update task. If a provision is brought into force by commencement orders in stages over time, the dates of “coming into force” effects that are applied will be arranged on the timeline like any other amendments, by in force date.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/35/section/2
The role of the update editor in applying coming into force effects
“Coming into force” effects applied during editorial update are treated as non-textual amendments and are applied as auto annotations by the editorial system.
When dealing with “coming into force” effects in editorial update, you should:
- Where the corresponding I-notes have not previously been reviewed during the Initial Edit task, ensure that you are happy with the content of the auto annotation, double checking the effect commencement provision and TOES to make sure that the annotation has rendered correctly.
- Check that no duplicate I-notes have been generated during the editorial update task. If there are any duplicates, please open the relevant provisions in XMetaL and remove the duplicate I-note before moving on. See also EU Exit Update Guidance - Duplicate I-notes.
- Check there are no missing I-notes in Schedules. See EU Exit Update Guidance Notes - Missing I-notes.
- Check the start dates of provisions that have been brought into force (N.B. remember to check start dates for “coming into force” effects that were reviewed at Initial edit, but come into force more than 28 days after RA/made date):
— Use the ‘Preview Provision’ to check the start date on the timeline, it is recommended that you preview at least one provision this way.
— Use the ‘Skeleton Preview’ to spot check start dates and annotations in the rest of the document. The Skeleton Preview can be found on the Update Overview Page:
The ‘Skeleton Preview’ gives an overview of the start dates for all the provisions in the item of legislation along with any I-notes that have been added. This can be very useful when spot checking start dates and any I-notes that have been added by the system when applying the “coming into force” effects:
Note:
- It is advisable, especially with more complex coming into force scenarios, to refer back to the recorded effects and view the timeline for the whole document on legislation.gov.uk to establish the initial in force position for the item of legislation.
- You should also open the whole item of legislation in Preview and check that there are no prospective provisions that should be in force (prospective provisions will appear with grey background and be labelled prosp.)
- You will not need to change the ‘status’ of the effects, they will remain as ‘auto applied’.
- If you find an error in the auto annotation that needs fixing you can check the provisions out in the normal way.
- Do not remove any existing I-notes, which should be left in place to tell the story of the commencement, for example:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/17/section/1/2021-10-01.
See also the following sections of the Wiki that also relate to I-notes:
EU Exit Update Guidance Notes
I-notes still referring to exit day
I-notes needed for provisions inserted prior to IP completion day
Common Update Errors
Remove the duplication of the words “in force” in I-notes
Related pages
Editorial Principles - Commencement