Section 173 | Cases in which consultation is not required

(1)Nothing in any enactment shall require any proposals in respect of regulations to be referred to the Committee or the Council if—

(a)it appears to the Secretary of State that by reason of the urgency of the matter it is inexpedient so to refer them; or

(b)the relevant advisory body have agreed that they shall not be referred.

(2)Where by virtue only of subsection (1)(a) above the Secretary of State makes regulations without proposals in respect of them having been referred, then, unless the relevant advisory body agrees that this subsection shall not apply, he shall refer the regulations to that body as soon as practicable after making them.

(3)Where the Secretary of State has referred proposals to the Committee or the Council, he may make the proposed regulations before the Committee have made their report or, as the case may be the Council have given their advice, only if after the reference it appears to him that by reason of the urgency of the matter it is expedient to do so.

(4)Where by virtue of this section regulations are made before a report of the Committee has been made, the Committee shall consider them and make a report to the Secretary of State containing such recommendations with regard to the regulations as the Committee thinks appropriate; and a copy of any report made to the Secretary of State on the regulations shall be laid by him before each House of Parliament together, if the report contains recommendations, with a statement—

(a)of the extent (if any) to which the Secretary of State proposes to give effect to the recommendations; and

(b)in so far as he does not propose to give effect to them, of his reasons why not.

(5)Except to the extent that this subsection is excluded by an enactment passed after 25th July 1986, nothing in any enactment shall require the reference to the Committee or the Council of any regulations contained in either—

(a)a statutory instrument made before the end of the period of 6 months beginning with the coming into force of the enactment under which those regulations are made; or

(b)a statutory instrument—

(i)which states that it contains only regulations made by virtue of, or consequential upon, a specified enactment; and

(ii)which is made before the end of the period of 6 months feginning with the coming into force of that specified enactment.

(6)In relation to regulations required or authorised to be made by the Secretary of State in conjunction with the Treasury, any reference made in this section to the Secretary of State shall be construed as a reference to the Secretary of State and the Treasury.

(7)In this section “regulations” means regulations under any enactment, whenever passed.