(1) Where a Bill has been passed by the Parliament, one-third of the Members of the Parliament may within three week-days from the final passing of the Bill request of the President that the Bill be subjected to a Referendum. Such request shall be made in writing and signed by the Members making the request.
(2) Except in the instance mentioned in Subsection (7), no Bill which may be subjected to a Referendum, confer Subsection (6), shall receive the Royal Assent before the expiration of the time limit mentioned in Subsection (1), or before a Referendum requested as aforesaid has take place.
(3) Where a Referendum on a Bill has been requested the Parliament may within a period of five week-days from the final passing of the Bill resolve that the Bill shall be withdrawn.
(4) Where the Parliament has made no resolution in accordance with Subsection (3), notice to the effect that the Bill will be put to a Referendum shall without delay be given to the Prime Minister, who shall then cause the Bill to be published together with a statement that a Referendum will be held. The Referendum shall be held in accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister not less than twelve and not more than eighteen week-days after the publication of the Bill.
(5) At the Referendum votes shall be cast for or against the Bill. For the Bill to be rejected a majority of the electors taking part in the voting, however, not less than thirty per cent of all persons entitled to vote, shall have voted against the Bill.
(6) Finance Bills, Supplementary Appropriation Bills, Provisional Appropriation Bills, Government Loan Bills, Civil Servants (Amendment) Bills, Salaries and Pensions Bills, Naturalization Bills, Expropriation Bills, Taxation (Direct and Indirect) Bills, as well as Bills introduced for the purpose of discharging existing treaty obligations shall not be subject to a decision by Referendum. This provision shall also apply to the Bills referred to in Sections 8, 9, 10, and 11, and to such resolutions as are provided for in Section 19, if existing in the form of a law, unless it has been provided by a special Act that such resolutions shall be put to a Referendum. Amendments of the Constitution Act shall be governed by the rules laid down in Section 88.
(7) In an emergency a Bill that may be subjected to a Referendum may receive the Royal Assent immediately after it has been passed, provided that the Bill contains a provision to
that effect. Where under the rules of Subsection (1) one-third of the Members of the Parliament request a Referendum on the Bill or on the Act to which the Royal Assent has been given, such Referendum shall be held in accordance with the above rules. Where the act is rejected by the Referendum, an announcement to that effect shall be made by the Prime Minister without undue delay and not later than fourteen days after the Referendum was held. From the date of such announcement the Act shall become ineffective.
(8) Rules for Referenda, including the extent to which Referenda shall be held on the Faeroe Islands and in Greenland, shall be laid down by Statute.
