Assent and enactment of legislation compared

Passing a bill and making a law are two steps

A vote in the legislature records a decision. A separate signature or declaration by the head of state turns the bill into law. The US Constitution says a bill passed by both Houses shall be presented to the President before it becomes a law ¹. UK Parliament describes royal assent as the point when the King formally agrees to make a bill into an Act of Parliament ². Canada's Royal Assent Act calls royal assent the constitutional culmination of the legislative process ³.

The signature attests to completion of the process. In Germany, the Federal President certifies a law only after it has been countersigned ⁴.

United States: signature, veto and override

Article I, Section 7 sets the options ¹.

• If the President approves the bill, he signs it ¹.
• If not, he returns it with his objections to the House where it started ¹.
• If two thirds of each House agree on reconsideration, the bill becomes law ¹.
• If the President does not return the bill within ten days, Sundays excepted, it becomes law ¹.
• That last rule does not apply where Congress by its adjournment prevents the return ¹.

United Kingdom: royal assent

Once a bill has completed all its stages in both Houses, it is ready for royal assent ². UK Parliament says there is no set time between the end of the consideration of amendments and royal assent ².

Assent is announced in each House. The Lord Speaker announces it in the House of Lords and the Speaker does so in the House of Commons ². At prorogation, Black Rod summons MPs to the Lords chamber, where Lords commissioners announce assent for bills passed late in the session ².

Canada: ceremony or written declaration

The Royal Assent Act of 2002 allows assent to be signified in Parliament assembled or by written declaration, during the session in which both Houses pass the bill ³. The Speaker of each House must notify the House of a written declaration. The Act is then deemed assented to on the day both Houses have been notified ³.

The ceremony is kept in law. Assent must be signified in Parliament assembled at least twice in each calendar year, and the first appropriation bill of each session must receive assent that way ³. Assent is not invalid solely for failure to follow that rule ³.

Germany: countersignature, certification and promulgation

Article 82 of the Basic Law says federal laws are certified by the Federal President after countersignature and then promulgated in the Federal Law Gazette ⁴. A law takes effect on the date it specifies. Where no date is given, it takes effect on the fourteenth day after the Gazette containing it is published ⁴.

Article 58 says orders and directions of the Federal President require for their validity the countersignature of the Federal Chancellor or of the competent Federal Minister, with listed exceptions ⁴.