List of enacting clauses
An enacting clause, or enacting formula, is a short phrase that introduces the main provisions of a law enacted by a legislature. It usually declares the source from which the law claims to derive its authority. In many countries, an enacting formula is not considered necessary and is simply omitted. The simplest enacting clauses merely cite the legislature by which the law has been adopted; for example the enacting clause used in Australia since 1990 is "The Parliament of Australia enacts." Alternatively an enacting clause may invoke the ultimate sovereign. For example, California, based on the  principle of popular sovereignty, has the following enacting clause: "The People of the State of California do enact as follows." National legislatures. Antigua and Barbuda. Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda: Argentina. Congress of Argentina: Australia. Parliament of Australia: For constitutional amendments passed at a referendum: Before October 1990: 1901–?: Austria. National Council: Bangladesh. Jatiya Sangsad: Barbados. Parliament of Barbados: 1969: 2020: For bills amending the constitution: Bahamas. Parliament of the Bahamas: Belgium. In Belgium the enacting formula appears in the official journal (Belgisch Staatsbald/Moniteur belgue) when the law is promulgated and published, but is usually thereafter not included when  the law is printed in compilations, or stored in internet databases, even official ones. The enacting clause is as follows. Belize. Parliament of Belize: Brazil. National Congress of Brazil: In Brazil the presidential assent to a bill is called "sanction". After passing both Houses of Congress (the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate), the final version of the bill, duly signed by the presiding officers of both Houses, is sent to the President of the Republic. The document is still called a "proposed law", with a bill number, and with the header ""The National Congress decrees:"" (In Portuguese: ""O  Congresso Nacional decreta:""). If the President approves the bill, a different copy of the act is prepared by the Presidency of the Republic, with the official number of the Law and the date of enactment of the law, and also with the replacement of the clause "The National Congress decrees:" with the above mentioned formula ""THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: I make it known that the National Congress decrees and I sanction the following Law:"". The signatures of the presiding officers of Congress are therefore not present in this version of the act. This is the version of the statute  that is published in the Official Journal and that is included in the statute books. When granting his approval to a bill, the President signs both the bill sent to him by Congress and the final version of the statute with the presidential enacting formula. The signed Bill is returned to Congress by means of a presidential message; the signed statute with the presidential enacting formula is printed in the Official Journal, and the original is thereafter sent to the National Archive. Thus, in Brazil, the President is always seen signing two different documents at bill signing ceremony (the two  documents are called the "autographs"): one is the text of the proposed law, the other is the final text of the statute. Technically, the first signature (on the autograph of the Bill sent by Congress) is the "sanction to the proposed law", that is, the approval of the bill, that transforms it in a Law, and the second signature (on the final version of the statute with the presidential enacting formula and a law number) is the promulgation, the announcement to the people that the Law has been adopted. While the signature of the President on the bill includes the  addition of the formula "I sanction it" (in Portuguese: "Sanciono") above the signature, this is not seen in the final "promulgation" autograph of the statute. On the other hand, the promulgated statute contains not only the signature of the president, but also the countersignatures of his ministers principally charged with applying the law. When the president vetoes a bill, and the veto is overridden, the Bill is returned by Congress to the President not for sanction (approval), but merely for promulgation. In that case, the president is expected to promulgate the bill in 48 hours. In that situation, the enacting  formula that appears in the final text of the adopted statute is as follows: Tacit sanction (i.e. implicit approval) is deemed to take place if the president fails to sign or veto a bill within the constitutionally mandated timeframe of fifteen working days from receiving the bill. Once the bill is considered implicitly sanctioned, the president is expected to promulgate the new law and the same 48-hour timeframe applies. The formula in this case is: Should the president refuse to promulgate, or fail to promulgate in the period of 48 hours, a bill, after his veto has been overridden  by Congress, then the authority to promulgate the bill passes to the President of the Senate. In that case, the formula of promulgation is: Should the president of the Republic refuse to promulgate, or fail to promulgate in the period of 48 hours, a bill, after the bill has been implicitly sanctioned due to his failure to sign or veto it within the constitutionally mandated timeframe, then the authority to promulgate the bill passes to the President of the Senate. In that case, the formula of promulgation is: Whenever the president adopts a provisional measure and the provisional measure is  approved by Congress with changes, a normal bill is sent to the president for approval or veto, and the same formulas used for other bills are employed; once enacted, the new statute replaces the provisional measure. However, if the provisional measure adopted by the president is approved by Congress without changes, the bill does not need to be presented for approval or veto; in that case, the law that both corresponds fully to the provisional measure and replaces it is promulgated directly by the President of the Senate, with the following words: General Assembly of the Empire of Brazil (1822 -1889) Whenever the General Assembly of the Empire (made up of a Senate and of a Chamber of Deputies) passed a bill, a decree of the General Assembly containing the articles of the approved bill was sent to the Emperor for sanction or veto. The Decree of the General Assembly began with the following formula (that did not appear in the final version of the statute, after the imperial sanction): ""The General Assembly decrees:"" (in Portuguese: ""A Assembleia Geral decreta:""). The decree was still only a proposed law, that would become an actual law if sanctioned by the Emperor. The  General Assembly sent its decree to the Emperor for sanction or veto by means of a message with the words following: ""The General Assembly sends to the Emperor the enclosed decree, that it considers advantageous, and useful to the Empire, and it asks that His Imperial Majesty may be pleased to grant it His sanction"" (in Portuguese: ""A Assembleia Geral dirige ao Imperador o decreto incluso, que julga vantajoso e útil ao Império, e pede a Sua Majestade Imperial, se digne dar a Sua sanção""). If the Emperor decided to sanction the decree, then he sent the message of the  General Assembly back to the Legislature, adding after the text of the Decree of the General Assembly the following words, together with the date and his signature: """The Emperor consents"" (in Portuguese: ""O Imperador consente""). Then, the Executive branch prepared a formal document to promulgate the new law, and this document was known in the imperial period as a "Charter of Law" (in Portuguese: "Carta de Lei"). It was the chartered version of the law that was included in the statute books and that was printed and published for the knowledge of the people. Thus, the Charter of Law was  the final version of the statute as adopted. It was signed by the Emperor and countersigned by his responsible Ministers, and contained an enacting formula as follows: When the powers of the Emperor were discharged by Regents on behalf of the monarch the formula was as follows: Canada. Parliament of Canada: The enacting clause for money bills differs. For example, in the "Appropriation Act No. 4, 2015–16", it reads as follows: Chile. National Congress of Chile: Colombia. Congress of Colombia: Croatia. Hrvatski sabor: Words "Hrvatski sabor" (Croatian Parliament) are printed in uppercase as a header on all laws, thereby starting  the enacting clause and symbolizing that there is no authority higher than the Parliament. This might be rooted in a popular quote from Ante Starčević in a parliamentary discussion in June 1861, as he stated that there is no-one above the parliamentary sovereignty (other than God and the people of Croatia). A brief statement follows, signed by the President of Croatia, promulgating the law, referring to his constitutional right to do so and the session of the parliament where the legislation has been passed. Denmark. The Danish Folketing: Finland. Parliament of Finland (from 1917 onwards): Before 1917 (examples): Fiji . Parliament of Fiji: France. Parliament of France: Germany. Bundestag of Germany: For acts which do not need the consent of the Bundesrat: For acts which need the consent of the Bundesrat: For acts which need an absolute majority and the consent of the Bundesrat: For acts that change the Basic Law: All laws conclude with the following formula before the place and date of signature, the signature of the Federal President and the countersignatures of the Federal Chancellor and of the Federal Ministers responsible for the subject-matter of the law: Greece. Hellenic Parliament: Normal Lawmaking. According to the current  Constitution of Greece (since March, 1986) each law is approved by the Parliament and promulgated by the President of the Republic. Before the first amendment of the current Constitution of Greece (until March, 1986) each law had to be approved by the Parliament and then to be ratified and promulgated by the President of the Republic. Under the presidential parliamentary Constitution of 1927 and since the Senate's formation in June, 1929, each law had to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate and then to be promulgated by the President of Republic. Also, during constitutional monarchy  regime, under the Constitutions of 1964 (as amended in 1911 and re-enacted in 1935) and 1952, each law had to be approved by both the Parliament and the King and then promulgated by the later. Lawmaking under the state of emergency. In case of extremely urgent unforeseen situations, the Constitution grants the Greek government along with the President of the Republic to issue legislative acts bypassing the parliamentary approval, in order to deal with urgent issues, provided that act to be later submitted for sanction in Parliament within forty days after either its promulgation or the parliamentary session convocation , in order to acquire legal power. Under the previous presidential parliamentary Constitutions, Emergency laws and legislative decrees were enacted by the following clause: During the Kingdom of Greece period, emergency laws and legislative decrees were enacted by the following clause: Constitutional and Parliament Regulation amendments. Currently, any amendment of the Constitution Law must be published on the official government gazette of the Hellenic Republic, directly ordered by the Speaker of the Parliament. Likewise, any amendment of the Work Regulation Law of the Hellenic Parliament must be published on the official government gazette of the Hellenic Republic, directly ordered by the  Speaker of the Parliament. Presidential and Royal decrees. The President of Hellenic Republic is the sole authorized state official to promulgate decrees, according to the current Constitution. In case of President's absence/incapacity/retirement, the decrees are leggaly promulgated by the President of the Parliament, performing as Acting President of the Republic. During the Kingdom of Greece period, the clause of the equivalent Royal decrees, issued only by the King or the authorized regent, was: Other Acts. Acts issued by the Cabinet, being inferior than decrees, enact secondary legislation. Distinctively, various Constituent Acts (i.e. constitutional amendentments without parliamentary approval ), occasionally issued for politically transitional periods (and sometimes be submitted for sanction by the next National Assembly, in order to be formal constitutional amendements), are also enacted like: Grenada. Parliament of Grenada: India. Parliament of India: Indonesia. Indonesian laws have a preamble stating the aims of the law and the clauses of the Constitution relevant to the law. The enacting clause is both before and after the preamble. People's Consultative Assembly: Before 2000, the phrase after the preamble was as follows: Ireland. The Oireachtas (parliament of the Republic of Ireland): Standard: For an act with a preamble: Israel. Currently , Israel does not use enacting clauses in its final laws, but a pseudo-enacting clause is usually printed at the beginning of bills: However, the Law and Administration Ordinance did have an enacting clause: Italy. Italian laws are published in the "Gazzetta Ufficiale" (the official gazette) with the following enacting clause: After the text of the law itself, the enacting clause continues: After this concluding clause, the place and date of signature follow. Then the signature of the President of the Republic (printed in capital letters when the law is published in the Gazette) and the counter-signatures of the  President of the Council of Ministers (the Prime Minister) and of the keeper of the State Seal (an office held by the Minister of Justice). Those counter-signatures are printed in normal letters when the law is published in the Gazette. The keeper of the State seal counter-signs the law when sealing it. Thereafter, this enacting clause is usually omitted when the law is reprinted in internet compilations or legal books. Jamaica. Parliament of Jamaica: Kiribati. Maneaba ni Maungatabu: Lebanon. Parliament of Lebanon: Malaysia. Parliament of Malaysia: Since 1998: Before 1998: Malta. Parliament of Malta: Mexico. After approving laws , Congress issues them as a decree in the manner stablished by Article 70 of the Constitution. Congress then sends the decree to the President for him to assent or veto the law. If the President grants assent to the law, he then issues a decree formally enacting it. Decrees are published in the Official Journal of the Federation ("Diario Oficial de la Federación"). Congress of the Union: Moldova. Parliament of the Republic of Moldova: Namibia. Parliament of the Republic of Namibia: Nauru. Parliament of Nauru: Netherlands. Estates-General of the Netherlands: The text in Dutch is: New Zealand. Parliament of  New Zealand: 1986–1999: Before 1986: Nigeria. Nigerian National Assembly: Pakistan. Parliament of Pakistan: Papua New Guinea. National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Paraguay. Congress of Paraguay: Philippines. Congress of the Philippines 1987 Constitution: Bills: Joint Resolutions: Peru. Congress of Peru: Portugal. Assembly of the Republic: Romania. Parliament of Romania: 1965–1989: 1948–1965: 1881–1947: South Africa. Parliament of South Africa: Since 27 April 1994: The Constitution of South Africa, not being a conventional Act of Parliament, does not contain an enacting formula "per se". Its preamble does, however, contain the words In the context, "we" refers to the people of South Africa . 3 September 1984 to 27 April 1994: 1 January 1981 to 3 September 1984: 31 May 1961 to 1 January 1981: 31 May 1910 to 31 May 1961: Spain. Cortes Generales of Spain: For Constitutions: For organic acts: Saint Kitts and Nevis. Parliament of Saint Kitts and Nevis: Saint Lucia. Parliament of Saint Lucia: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Singapore. Parliament of Singapore: Solomon Islands. National Parliament of the Solomon Islands: Swaziland. Parliament of Swaziland Sweden. Riksdag Switzerland. Swiss Federal Assembly: Thailand. National Assembly of Thailand: Constitution: Act: Royal Degree & Emergency  Decree: Royal Command: Tuvalu. Parliament of Tuvalu: United Kingdom. Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: An enacting clause may be preceded by an explanatory preamble of "whereas" clauses, e.g. for the Chequers Estate Act 1917. Until the 19th century each later section of an act repeated an abbreviated version of the formula used in the first section, typically "and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid". The first revised edition of the statutes omitted these formulae to save space, while printing the primary enacting clause. The Statute Law Revision Act 1888 deleted these formulae  from many unrepealed acts. United States. Congress of the United States Bills: Joint Resolutions (have the same effect as bills): Vanuatu. Parliament of Vanuatu Venezuela. National Assembly of Venezuela: Zimbabwe. Parliament of Zimbabwe: