When a law or similar instrument is to take effect only after a set period from its promulgation date, how is that period counted?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the promulgation notice, which carries the date the instrument was promulgated or issued, and the effective-date clause in the instrument's text, which states whether it takes effect immediately or after a period. A calendar or official holiday list for the relevant year shows whether the last day of that period falls on a Saturday or a public holiday.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes both items together: where the instrument takes effect on the day a certain period has elapsed after promulgation, the promulgation date is not counted as the first day, and the period runs from the following day; where the last day of that period falls on a Saturday or a public holiday, the provision states that the period expires on that last day, without moving it to the next business day.
Another reading marks the limits of what the provision settles: it governs only how the effective date itself is calculated, counting from the promulgation date, so it does not tell what follows for a step a person must take on the day the instrument takes effect, nor how a period phrased by reference to service or some other event is counted.
Your judgment
If a filing deadline falls on the day a newly promulgated instrument takes effect, what in the file shows which instrument governed that step?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We revisit this card if the provision is amended to state expressly that a last day falling on a Saturday or public holiday rolls forward, or if an authoritative decision applies it to periods counted from service rather than from promulgation.