Acts of Parliament Act

Section Interpretation Section In this Act unless the context otherwise requires— (a) " Act " means a law made by Parliament ; (b) " assent " means the assent of the President signifying his or her approval of a bill passed by Parliament under article 91 or 262 of the Constitution; (c) " bill " means the draft of an Act of Parliament and includes both a private member’s bill and a Government bill; (d) " certificate " means a certificate referred to in section 16 ; (e) " clerk " means the clerk to Parliament or a deputy clerk or any other person performing the duties of the clerk by direction of the Speaker ; (f) " Electoral Commission " means the Electoral Commission established by article 60 of the Constitution; (g) " Government printer " means the printer authorised generally to print and publish written laws and other publications of the Government; (h) " original copies " means original copies prepared in accordance with sections 8 and 12 ; (i) " Parliament " means the Parliament of Uganda; (j) " session " means a series of meetings of Parliament within a period of twelve months; (k) " Speaker " means the Speaker of Parliament and Deputy Speaker shall be construed accordingly.

Section Acts and bills Section This Act shall apply with respect to the forms of Acts of Parliament and the forms of bills shall correspond with this Act .

Section Title Section Every Act shall bear at the head a short title immediately followed by a long title describing the leading provisions of the Act .

Section Words of enactment Section Every Act shall be prefaced by the words of enactment specified in the First Schedule to this Act . The words of enactment shall be taken to extend to all sections and to any schedules and other provisions contained in the Act .

Section Subdivisions Section Where an Act contains more than one enactment it shall be divided into sections and sections containing more than one enactment shall be divided into subsections.

Section Style of Statutes Section Unless the situation warrants otherwise all Statutes in Uganda shall be styled Acts.

Section Acts to be public Acts Section Every Act is, and shall be judicially noticed as, a public Act .

Section Presentation of the bill for assent under article 91 Section Where the bill has been returned to Parliament under article 91(3)(b) or (c) of the Constitution and Parliament has reconsidered the bill and passed it again, the clerk shall present the bill for the second time to the President for assent ; and sections 8 and 9 shall apply with necessary modifications.

Section Numbering Section Acts shall be numbered consecutively in the order in which they become Acts and the numbering shall begin afresh at the commencement of a calendar year. As soon as the President has signed a copy of an Act under section 9 or 10 or a bill becomes an Act under article 91 or 262 of the Constitution without the assent of the President, the clerk shall cause the number of the Act to be entered on a copy of the Act signed or which has become law without the assent of the President, as the case may be.

Section Original copies of Acts assented to by the President or becoming law without the assent of the President Section Subject to subsection (2) or (3), where the procedure prescribed in sections 8 , 9 , 10 and 11 purports to have been followed in relation to copies of an Act, the copies shall be deemed to be original copies of the Act and shall be conclusive evidence of the terms of the Act, its number and date of assent or the date on which it became law without the assent of the President. Where a bill becomes law under article 91 of the Constitution without the President’s assent , the clerk shall prepare four copies of the Act and shall certify on each copy a statement in the appropriate form set out in Part III of the Second Schedule to this Act to the effect that the bill became law without the assent of the President. Where a bill has become law without the assent of the President under article 262 of the Constitution, the clerk to Parliament shall prepare four copies of the Act and shall certify on each copy a statement in the form set out in Part IV of the Second Schedule to this Act to the effect that the bill became law without the assent of the President. The copies...

Section Publication Section Every Act shall be published by the Government printer as soon as possible after the President’s assent has been signified or the bill has otherwise become law without the President’s assent under article 91 or 262 of the Constitution, and shall be published— with the omission of the statements contained in the original copies by virtue of sections 8 , 9 , 10 and 12 ; with the insertion of a statement of the date on which the President’s assent was signified or, as the case may be, the date on which the bill became law without the assent of the President under article 91 or 262 of the Constitution and the date of commencement if known. A copy of any Act other than an original copy purported to have been printed or published by the Government Printer shall be prima facie evidence of the terms of the Act , its number and the date of assent .

Section Preparation of presentation copies Section On receiving the copies, the clerk shall— As soon as possible after a bill has been passed by Parliament , the clerk shall cause the text of the bill as passed to be sent to the Government printer who shall print ten copies of the bill on vellum or on paper of enduring quality and send the copies as printed to the clerk . cause to be made in the copies such corrections as relate to misprints, typographical errors and wrong references, if any, as are necessary; carefully compare the copies with the text of the bill as passed; if the copies are found to be correct sign on each copy a statement in the form set out in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Act ; and cause the copies to be presented to the President for assent .

Section Assent by the President Section The President shall, subject to article 91 or 262 of the Constitution, assent to the bill presented to him or her under section 8 by signing on each copy of the bill a statement in the form set out in Part II of the Second Schedule to this Act. A bill shall become an Act of Parliament on the signature by the President of the first of the copies referred to in subsection (1). A bill which becomes law under article 91 or 262 of the Constitution without the assent of the President shall be deemed to have become law on the day on which the Speaker of Parliament causes a copy of the bill to be laid before Parliament under article 91 or 262 of the Constitution. On the day on which a bill is stated to become law under subsection (3), that bill shall be deemed to become an Act of Parliament .

Section Commencement of Acts Section Subject to this section, the commencement of an Act shall be such date as is provided in or under the Act , or where no date is provided, the date of its publication as notified in the Gazette . Every Act shall be deemed to come into force at the first moment of the day of commencement. A provision in an Act regulating the coming into force of the Act or any part of the Act shall have effect notwithstanding that the part of the Act containing the provision has not come into operation. Where an Act is made with retrospective effect, the commencement of the Act shall be the date from which it is given or deemed to be given that effect. Subsection (4) shall not apply to an Act until there is notification in the Gazette as to the date of its publication; and until that date is specified, the Act shall be without effect.

Section Citation Section The citation of the short title to an Act shall be sufficient to identify the Act .

Section Bills amending the Constitution Section A certificate required to be made by the Speaker of Parliament in respect of a bill passed in accordance with article 261 of the Constitution shall be in the form specified in Part V of the Second Schedule to this Act . A certificate required to be made by the Speaker of Parliament by article 262 of the Constitution in respect of a bill passed in accordance with article 259 of the Constitution shall be in the form specified in Part VI of the Second Schedule to this Act . A certificate required to be made by the Speaker of Parliament by article 262 of the Constitution in respect of a bill passed in accordance with article 260 of the Constitution shall be in the form specified in Part VII of the Second Schedule to this Act . A certificate of the Electoral Commission required by article 262 of the Constitution in respect of a bill passed in accordance with article 259 of the Constitution shall be in the form specified in Part VIII of the Second Schedule to this Act . A certificate of the Electoral Commission required by article 262 of the Constitution in respect of a bill passed in accordance with article 260 of the Constitution shall be...

Section Amendment and repeal in same session Section An Act passed in any session of Parliament may be amended or repealed in the same session .

Section Reprint and revised edition Section An Act which has been amended may, with the authority of the Attorney General, be reprinted with all the necessary additions, omissions, substitutions and amendments effected by the amending Act . The Attorney General may, by statutory order, approve the Act reprinted under subsection (1) and shall, in that order appoint a day from which every copy of the Act reprinted shall be judicially noticed as an authentic copy of the Act as amended. The Attorney General may, by statutory instrument, order a revised edition of the written law or any part of it to be printed subject to such conditions as may be specified in the instrument. An instrument made under subsection (3) shall be laid before Parliament and shall be subject to annulment by Parliament by resolution passed within forty sitting days after it has been laid and shall cease to have effect when so annulled but without prejudice to the making of a further instrument.

Section Date of passing of Act Section Where the date appearing on an Act printed or purporting to be printed by the Government printer purports as the case may be to be— The date on which an Act is passed is the day on which the President signifies on the bill for the Act the giving of the President’s assent to the bill as provided for under this Act or the date on which it became an Act without the President’s assent under article 91 or 262 of the Constitution. the day on which the President assented to it; or the date on which it otherwise became law, the apparent date shall be received as evidence that it was the date that it purports to be and shall be judicially noticed accordingly.