Drafting practices
PCO Standard
The PCO Standard is a guide to legislative drafting in NSW, acting as both a style guide and a manual for drafters and editors. The objective of the document is to provide a collective base for legislative drafting resources in the office, ensure a consistent style is implemented by PCO for the NSW statute book and offer insight into PCO’s approach to drafting.
Version 1 of the PCO Standard was launched on 9 May 2023 to coincide with the opening of the 58th Parliament and can be downloaded here (1.9MB).
Other publications
The NSW legislation website has links to a collection of publications and information about NSW legislation, including factsheets and other legislative resources.
Learn more about drafting practices
For non-government members of Parliament
The PCO Manual for Non-Government Drafting (2023) contains the Premier's authorisation to the NSW Parliamentary Counsel for the drafting of legislation for non-Government members of Parliament and sets out procedures for how the drafting is to be undertaken.
The 2023 version of Manual, reissued at the start of the 58th Parliament, can be downloaded here
To learn more about our legislative programs, see Legislative programs.
For local councils
The following resources are intended for local councils. Local councils work with the PCO on local environmental plans, or LEPs. To learn more about the Environmental planning instruments program, see Legislative programs.
