Measure of the National Assembly for Wales
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 is subject to 'LCOs' or Legislative Competence Order, which transfers powers to the Assembly by amending Schedule 5 of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
This article is about the lower form of legislation of the National Assembly for Wales between 1999 and 2011. For the higher form of primary legislation, known as Acts of the Assembly, and later of the Senedd from 2020, see Act of Senedd Cymru.
It was 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 Existing measures will remain valid unless repealed by the assembly in the future.[2][3] Following the Assembly becoming the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) in May 2020, these acts are now referred to as an Act of Senedd Cymru.
Part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 gives the Senedd legislative competence in the following 20 "Subjects" outlined on schedule 7 of that act in relation to Measures. (The Senedd does not have competence with respect to all aspects of these subjects.) Since the Assembly gained the competence to pass Acts, these have not been used, but they still apply in relation to previously passed Measures.[7]