SI Subject Headings

SI Subject Headings

All Statutory Instruments contain at least one subject heading to categorise the instrument by its area of legislative impact. An instrument may cover more than one subject and in this case all applicable subject headings are included. Sometimes an instrument will also make use of a subheading to provide a further level of detail.

When an Instrument is submitted for registration, the SI Registrar will check that any subject headings used are valid.

Verifying Subject Headings

The SI Registrar maintains an official list of Main SI Subject Headings which users should check to verify the SI uses a valid subject heading.  This list is updated as necessary to include approved new subject headings and users are therefore encouraged to reference the official list on legislation.gov.uk Publishing and not locally held copies. A simple guide on subject heading and territorial suffix usage is also available.

You can find out whether your intended subject heading has been used before by visiting the legislation.gov.uk website and using the Browse Legislation facility. Simply choose the type of instrument applicable for your jurisdiction. Scroll down the screen and on the left-hand side of the screen there is an option to look for Legislation by Subject Heading. Select the first letter of the subject heading from the alphabetical list displayed and then in the Refine Results box highlight the words “Start Typing” and start entering the subject heading you are looking for. The website will return a list of matching options below the input box. To access these, click on the heading displayed that matches your requirement and then select View Refined Results. 

Please note: not all subject headings contained in legislation on legislation.gov.uk are necessarily approved - some have become obsolete over time and others may have been incorrectly used.  If the subject heading does not appear on the official list of Main SI Subject Headings, please refer to the SI Registrar  for advice.

Approval for New Subject Headings

If the subject heading you want to use is not found then please contact the SI Registrar in advance of submitting the Instrument for registration (or sending a draft instrument for processing). Please email the SI Registrar with a draft of the instrument, giving your suggested subject heading/s and any relevant background. The SI Registrar can then provide advice on the appropriate subject heading to use or, if necessary, approve a new subject heading.