An example of permissive legislation? (9,3)

'an example of permissive' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'legislation?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'legislation?' could be 'act' (legislation is a kind of act) and 'act' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'licensing' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?