# Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, Section 173: Regulations and orders: procedure

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) Regulations made by the Secretary of State under this Act are to be made by statutory instrument.
(2) For regulations made under this Act by the Scottish Ministers, see section 27 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 10) (definition of “Scottish statutory instrument”).
(3) Regulations or orders made by the Welsh Ministers under this Act are to be made by Welsh statutory instrument.
(4) Any power of a Northern Ireland department to make regulations or orders under this Act is exercisable by statutory rule for the purposes of the Statutory Rules (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 (S.I. 1979/1573 (N.I. 12)).
(5) Where regulations under this Act are “subject to the affirmative resolution procedure”, the regulations—
(a) if made by the Secretary of State, may not be made unless a draft of the statutory instrument containing them has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament;
(b) if made by the Welsh Ministers, are subject to the Senedd approval procedure (see Part 2A of the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 (anaw 4));
(c) if made by the Scottish Ministers, are subject to the affirmative procedure (see section 29 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 10));
(d) if made by a Northern Ireland department, may not be made unless a draft of the regulations has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, the Northern Ireland Assembly.
(6) Where regulations under this Act are “subject to the negative resolution procedure”—
(a) if made by the Secretary of State, the statutory instrument containing them is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament;
(b) if made by the Welsh Ministers, the regulations are subject to the Senedd annulment procedure (see Part 2A of the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 (anaw 4));
(c) if made by the Scottish Ministers, the regulations are subject to the negative procedure (see section 28 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 10));
(d) if made by a Northern Ireland department, the regulations are subject to negative resolution within the meaning of section 41(6) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (c. 33 (N.I.)) as if they were a statutory instrument within the meaning of that Act.
(7) Any provision that may be made by the Secretary of State or a Northern Ireland department in regulations under this Act subject to the negative resolution procedure may be made by them in regulations subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
(8) See also—
(a) section 33 of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 10) (combining Scottish subordinate legislation subject to different procedures);
(b) section 37G of the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 (anaw 4) (combining Welsh subordinate legislation subject to different procedures).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/18/section/173 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/tobacco-and-vapes-act-2026/section-173
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.