BYE-LAW 5. LAWS OF THE GAME

(a) The Laws of the Game, or any alterations thereto or interpretations thereof, shall be promulgated by World Rugby in the English language and shall be binding and uniformly observed in all Matches.

(b) The Council shall be entitled as it deems fit to direct or authorise any Member Union or all Member Unions to practise for experimental purposes only a specific variation or series of variations from the Laws of the Game. Any such Member Union or all Member Unions shall implement such direction or exercise such authority in accordance with any conditions that may be laid down by the Council and shall furnish to the Council such information as it may require regarding the results ascertained from the experiment.

(c) Proposals to alter the Laws of the Game shall be considered at least once per year and, ordinarily, twice per year.  Ordinarily all proposed alterations to Laws of the Game will be subject to trial in both closed (tournament-specific) and open (global) trials prior to the relevant Law being amended save for where Law alterations are required for Player welfare purposes in which case an expedited Law alteration process may be employed as appropriate.