Converting a Scottish Bill into an Act

Once a Bill has gone through all the amending phases and is ready for enactment, its content will need updating so that it becomes an Act.

Converting a Scottish Bill into an Act of the Scottish Parliament will make the following changes:

Updates the XML so that it is now an Act document type
Inserts the Act front cover (containing Short title, Act Year, ASP Number and Explanatory Notes statement)
Inserts new Table of Contents (containing Short title, Act Year, Act Number)
The date of enactment rubric will be added above the long title in the preface and the Act Year and Act Number will be inserted under the Short title in the preface
“Bill” in the short title will be changed to “Act” and the Act Year inserted at the end
The stage version rubric will be removed, as will the Accompanying Document rubric
The back cover will be removed (if there is one).

You can create the Act version of a bill by selecting the “Create Act Version” option from the Actions menu. See the detailed steps below.

On the Project Tab, open the Actions menu next to the final version of the bill and choose ‘Convert to Act’.
A modal will open; in the modal, specify the Folder and a new version name, and then optionally choose the Assent date, Passed date, Act year, and Chapter Number.
When you have provided a folder and version description, click Create.
Open the newly created document version in the Editor and do the following:
- Check the Act title is correct;
- Update the Document Information including Act year, chapter number & assent date (see Managing document information);
- Delete Explanatory Notes rubric from front cover if not required (and any other element, e.g. the table of contents);
- Save the document.
Generate a PDF (see Generating and viewing a PDF).
On the Project Tab, find the PDF snapshot of the approved PDF version and select Submit to TNA.

You can’t generate an Act version if the document is already an Act version.
To create the Official Print and Queen’s Copy, we recommend that you use the Convert to Act option on the Palace copy.