CONSOLIDATED ACTS OF SAMOA 2009

PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES
ACT 1988

Arrangement of Provisions

TITLE

1.	Short title
2.	Appointment
3.	Term of Office
4.	Notice of appointment and vacation of office
5.	Oath
6.	By whom oath to be taken
7.	Salaries, allowances and other benefits
8.	Functions
9.	Execution of instruments

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THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES
ACT 1988
1988	No. 12

AN ACT to establish and make provision for Parliamentary Under-Secretaries.

(18 July 1988)
(Commencement date: 18 July 1988)

1.	Short title - This Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Under-Secretaries Act 1988.

2.	Appointment - (1) The Head of State from time to time shall, acting on advice of the Prime Minister, by warrant under the Head of States’ hand appoint any Member of the Legislative Assembly to be a Parliamentary Under-Secretary.

(2) The Office of Parliamentary Under-Secretary shall be held in relation to one or more Ministerial offices, to be specified in that behalf in the warrant of appointment.

(3)	A holder of the office of Parliamentary Under-Secretary may be referred to as an Associate Minister.

3.	Term of office - Every person appointed as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary shall vacate his or her office:

(a)	if he or she ceases to be a Member of Parliament;

(b)	if his or her appointment as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary is terminated by the Head of State acting on the advice of the Prime Minister; or 

(c)	if he or she resigns his or her office by writing under his or her hand addressed to the Head of State:

PROVIDED THAT no person who is in office as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary immediately before the dissolution of any Parliament shall be deemed on that dissolution to have vacated his or her office by the operation of this section.

4.	Notice of appointment and vacation of office - Notice of the appointment of any person as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary and of the vacation of his or her office by resignation or otherwise, shall be published in the Gazette or Savali forthwith after the appointment or vacation of office, as the case may be.

5.	Oath - The Parliamentary Under-Secretary's Oath shall be in the form following, that is to say:

"I, ................ swear by Almighty God that I will well and truly serve the Independent State of Samoa according to law, in the office of Parliamentary Under-Secretary. So help me God. "

6.	By whom oath to be taken - (1) The Parliamentary Under-Secretary's Oath shall be taken by every person appointed to the office of Parliamentary Under-Secretary as soon as may be after his or her acceptance of office.

(2) The Parliamentary Under-Secretary's Oath shall be administered by the Member of the Executive Council.

7.	Salaries, allowances and other benefits - The salaries, allowances and other benefits for each Parliamentary Under-Secretary shall be determined under the Remuneration Tribunal Act 2003.

8.	Functions - (1) A Parliamentary Under-Secretary holding office as such in respect of any Ministerial office shall have and may exercise under the direction of the Minister concerned:

(a)	such of the powers, duties, and functions of the Minister for the time being holding that office as may from time to time be assigned to him or her by that Minister; and

(b)	such of the powers, duties, and functions of the Minister for the time being holding any other Ministerial office as may from time to time be assigned to him or her by the Prime Minister.

(2) No Minister shall be debarred from personally exercising any power, duty, or functions by reason of the fact that any power, duty, or function has been assigned to a Parliamentary Under-Secretary.

(3) The fact that any person holding office as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary purports to exercise any power, duty or function of a Minister shall be conclusive evidence of his or her authority to do so.

9.	Execution of Instruments - (1) Every instrument that is executed by a Parliamentary Under-Secretary on behalf of a Minister shall be signed by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary with a personal signature to which shall be added the words 'Parliamentary Under-Secretary, for the Minister of ….' or 'Associate Minister to the Minister of ….' or words to like effect.

(2) Every instrument that is executed by a Parliamentary Under-Secretary on behalf of a Minister shall be as valid and effective as if it had been executed by that Minister.

(3) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, a Parliamentary Under-Secretaries shall not execute any document on behalf of a Minister without the prior consent and approval of the Minister.

(4) Any document that is executed contrary to the provision of subsection (3) of this section shall be void.

REVISION NOTES 2008

This law has been generally edited as provided for by section 5 of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008. The following general revisions have been made –

(a)	References to Western Samoa have been amended to Samoa in accordance with an amendment to the Constitution of Samoa in 1997.

(b)	The fines have been amended and are stated as penalty units as provided for by the Fines (Review and Amendment) Act 1998.

(c)	All references to the male gender have been made gender neutral.

(d)	Amendments have been made to conform to modern drafting styles and to use modern language as applied in the laws of Samoa.

(e)	Amendments have been made to up-date references to offices, officers and statutes.

(f)	Other minor editing has been done in accordance with the lawful powers of the Attorney General.

The following amendments have been made to specific sections of the Act to incorporate amendments made by Act of Parliament passed since the publication of the Western Samoa Statutes Reprint 1978-1996 –

Note:	section 7 has been repealed and is replace by section 21(2) of the Remuneration Tribunal Act 2003

section 2 was amended by adding ss(3)

section 9 was amended by omitting subsection 1 and substituted by section 4 of the Parliamentary Under- Secretaries Amendment Act 2006.

Revised and consolidated by Fetogi R. Vaai
Under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel). 

REVISION NOTES 2008 No. 2

This law has been generally edited as provided for by section 5 of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008. The commencement date is inserted after the date of assent.

Revised under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel).

REVISION NOTES 2009

There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2009. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Papalii Malietau Malietoa (Parliamentary Counsel).

The Parliamentary Under-Secretaries Act 1988 is administered by the Ministry of the Prime Minister.