Regulations are a type of delegated (subordinate or subsidiary) legislation that are created by a body other than Parliament.
At the Commonwealth level, these are called Legislative Instruments.
Statutory instruments are legislative "tools" which are permitted (enabled) by specific provisions within an Act.
The Federal Register of Legislation (FROL) incorporates the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (FRLI) which was established under section 20 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (Cth).
- Legislative Instruments includes all the materials previously called subordinate or delegated legislation, or regulations of Statutory Rules.
- Regulations were previously published as "Statutory Rules (year) No.". Following the commencement of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (Cth), regulations are "Select Legislative Instrument (year) No.".
The change in terminology is reflected in LEGENDcom and FROL but not completely in Lexis Advance.
Locating Legislative Instruments on the Federal Register of Legislation
Option 1:
Search by Legislative Instrument Name
Step 1: Complete the Search screen:
Select In force from the Status bar (unless you want to see all LIs, in which case, leave the default All button selected)
In the Search for box, type the Legislative Instrument's name, or words within the name
From the Search in drop down menu, select Name
From the Search using drop down menu, select Contains all the words
Below the search box, from the Filter by Collection menu, check Legislative Instrument
Step 2: Click Search
Step 3: Select the relevant LI from the results list
Example: Source Legislative Instruments for the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth)
Option 2:
From the Act's home page
If you are already in the Act,
Step 1: Select the Authorises link from the activity menu located below the deep blue band and above the Act name
Step 2: Select a relevant Legislative Instrument from the results list.
Example: Australian Citizenship (special residence requirement) Instrument (LIN 21/069) 2021.
The home page of the Legislative Instrument shows the Act that authorises this LI.
Step 3: Select from the Activities menu to find out more about the Legislative Instrument
Select Details for the legislative history of the LI.
Select Downloads to access the Explanatory Statement.
Select other buttons from the activities menu to find out more about the LI.