A Measure of the National Assembly for Wales (informally, an Assembly Measure) is primary legislation in Wales that is a category lower than an Act of Parliament. In the case of contemporary Welsh law, the difference with acts is that the competence to pass Measures was subject to 'LCOs' or Legislative Competence Order, which transferred powers to the Assembly by amending Schedule 5 of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
It is a lower form of primary legislation as it did not contain a large bulk of powers compared to the power to make acts. In Wales each Assembly Measure had to be accompanied with a matter which was transferred using the Legislative Competence Order (LCO) system. Each Assembly Measure, like an Act of Parliament, had to have made provision for a matter within the remit of the legislative competency of the Assembly.
Following a referendum held in 2011, the assembly gained powers to make primary legislation, then known as Acts of the Assembly. These powers came into force after the 2011 assembly elections and the assembly is no longer able to pass Measures. Existing measures will remain valid unless repealed by the assembly in the future.[2][3] Following the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020, these acts are now referred to as an Act of Senedd Cymru.
- ^ "First Welsh law's royal approval". BBC. 9 July 2008.
- ^ "It's a Yes. So what happens now?". BBC News. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
- ^ "Referendum". Archived from the original on 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2011-03-06.