A request to the Legal Draftsman for the preparation of legislation as set out in the Establishments Code should be in writing and be accompanied by the following documents:-

The Legal Draftsman would thereupon prepare a preliminary draft of the proposed legislation and this draft would be forwarded to the requesting Ministry for its observations.

Upon final confirmation from the requesting Ministry that the preliminary draft is in conformity with the policy decided on by the Cabinet of ministers, the Legal Draftsman will send out to the requesting Ministry the final draft of the relevant legislation, along with a copy thereof to the Hon. Attorney - General.

The Hon. Attorney - General will thereupon, in pursuance of the provisions of Article 77 of the Constitution, make his observations in relation to the said draft. If the provisions of the draft legislation do not contravene the provisions of the Constitution he will issue a Certificate stating that the draft legislation is in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution. This will be forwarded by him to the requesting Ministry with a copy to the Legal Draftsman.

If the Attorney - General is of opinion that certain changes are needed in the draft legislation in order to ensure conformity with the provisions of the Constitution he will include this in his observations to the requesting Ministry with copy to the Legal Draftsman. It is the responsibility of the requesting Ministry to instruct the Legal Draftsman to incorporate the amendment and forward an amended draft. Once the amended is incorporated the Hon. Attorney - General will issue a certificate stating that the draft as amended is in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution.

Upon receipt of the certificate of the Attorney - General, the Legal Draftsman will then forward the translations of the Legislation to the requesting Ministry. In the case of Amending Legislation, the Statement of Legal Effect in all three languages will also be forwarded to the Ministry at this stage.

The requesting Ministry will at this point, submit the draft legislation to the Cabinet of Ministers and seeking approval for draft to be published as a supplement to Part II of the Gazette and for its presentation in Parliament. If at this stage the Cabinet of Ministers decides that further amendments need to be made to the draft legislation, then the Ministry should forward the relevant Cabinet Decision along with the copies of the draft in all three languages and the statement of legal effect if any, in their possession to the Legal Draftsman for the relevant amendments to be incorporated in the draft.

If the situation envisaged in para 7 materialises, then the procedure set out in paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 7 should then be followed again.

On the Cabinet of Ministers approving the publication of the Bill in the Gazette, the Ministry should forward the draft in all three languages to the Government Printer. The proofs in all languages will be sent to the Legal Draftsman, who will correct the proof and send it back to the Government Printer.

Draft legislation, which is to be passed under the urgent bill procedure, is normally sent to the Legal Draftsman's Department with the documents set out in paragraph 1 under the heading Drafting of Bills. However the Cabinet Decision in such cases states that the Cabinet has directed the legislation to be enacted as an Urgent Bill.

Requests for legislation to be prepared for enactment following the urgent bills procedure can also be made after the stages set out in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 under the heading Drafting of Bills has been followed.

The Attorney - General's certificate is not necessary in the case of Urgent Bills.

The requesting Ministry will on receiving the Final Draft of the Legislation (which will also have the required Endorsement under Article 122 of the Constitution to be signed by the Secretary to the Cabinet) submit the draft legislation to the Cabinet of Ministers for its approval. If at this stage the Cabinet of Ministers decides that further amendments need to be made to the draft legislation, then the Ministry should forward the relevant Cabinet Decision to the Legal Draftsman for the amendment/amendments to be incorporated in the draft.

The Sinhala and Tamil drafts will be released to the requesting Ministry at this stage.

The requesting Ministry will then submit the legislation in its draft form with the signed endorsement to the President for the legislation to be referred to the Supreme Court. (Urgent Bills are not printed in the Gazettee).

Upon consideration of the legislation by the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court will forward its determination on the legislation to the Speaker within 24 hours. - Article 122

Parliament then causes the draft to be printed as a Bill and it is made available only on the day of the debate in Parliament. (No proofs are read).

If amendments are proposed to the printed Bill at any time before the Bill is taken up for Debate by Parliament, the requesting Ministry will request the Legal Draftsman to draft the necessary amendment in the form of a Committee Stage Amendment which is to be moved at the Committee Stage of a Bill, which is after the Second Reading (Debate) of the Bill. Once these amendments are prepared by the Legal Draftsman in all three languages, a copy of it is also sent to the Attorney - General.

If at any time during the Debate on the Bill, the line Ministry agrees to the making of certain amendments to the draft Bill, then, they must communicate this to the officer of the Legal Draftsman's Department who is present in Parliament during the Debate. Such Amendments will be prepared by such officer before the Committee Stage of the Bill and handed over to the officials of the Ministry. The amendments must be given to the relevant Minister so that the Committee Stage Amendments can be moved by him at the Committee Stage of the Bill.

If there are Committee Stage Amendments moved to a Bill, then the officer from the Attorney - Generals Department who is present in Parliament will issue a Certificate on the Constitutionality of the amendments to the Secretary - General of Parliament.

The Establishments Code requires that all subsidiary legislation be drafted by the Ministry requesting the same and sent to the Legal Draftsman for revision thereof. It must be sent in all three languages, in duplicate.

In such a case as above the draft subsidiary legislation is revised and the corrections entered into the copy and sent back to the Ministry that made the request. If there are Schedules attached to subsidiary legislations the Department does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the technical or other specialist information which is contained in such Schedules.

If the draft subsidiary legislation sent to the Department is substantially inadequate and cannot be used as a base, then the necessary subsidiary legislation is drafted by the Department and translated and sent out in all three languages to the requesting Ministry. Subsidiary legislation once signed by the person authorised to make them, (generally it is the Minister), must be published in the Gazette. Subsidiary legislation takes effect upon Gazetting. However they must be placed before Parliament as soon as is convenient thereafter. If the Gazetted Subsidiary Legislation does not receive the approval of Parliament then it is deemed to be rescinded as from such date, without prejudice to anything done thereunder.