The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021

Enforcement of requirement

20.—(1) A relevant officer may take any action necessary to establish whether a breach of these Regulations has occurred or to enforce a requirement imposed under these Regulations.

(2) A relevant officer may give a prohibition notice to a person (P) if the relevant officer reasonably believes that—

(a) P is contravening a requirement under these Regulations; and

(b) it is necessary and proportionate to give the prohibition notice for the purpose of preventing P from continuing to contravene the requirement.

(3) A prohibition notice must specify the—

(a) contravention to which it relates;

(b) measures the enforcement officer requires P to take in order to ensure that P complies with the requirement; and

(c) time limit, which must not be less than 48 hours beginning with the time the notice is issued, within which the measures must be taken.

(4) An enforcement officer must issue a notice terminating a prohibition notice (a “termination notice”) if satisfied that—

(a) the measures specified in the prohibition notice have been taken; or

(b) other measures have been taken to ensure that the requirement is complied with.

(5) A prohibition notice ceases to have effect upon the issue of a termination notice.

(6) A prohibition notice or a termination notice is issued by giving P a written copy of it, but where P is not on premises to which a notice relates when it is to be issued, the notice is to be treated as having been issued to P—

(a) if a written copy of it is given to another person on the premises who appears to be involved in the business or service in question; or

(b) if there is no such person on the premises at that time, a written copy of the notice is placed in a conspicuous position on or at the premises.

(7) A relevant officer may direct a person (P) to return to the place where P normally lives where—

(a) the relevant officer considers that P is outside of the place where P normally lives; and

(b) that P is engaged in, or is intending to engage in, activity prohibited by these Regulations.

(8) Where a relevant officer considers that there is a gathering in contravention of Part 3, the relevant officer may—

(a) direct the gathering to disperse;

(b) direct a person at the gathering to return to the place where they normally live; or

(c) remove a person from the gathering and in doing so use reasonable force.

(9) Where a person who is in a gathering in contravention of Part 3, is a child accompanied by an individual who has responsibility for the child—

(a) the relevant officer may direct that individual to take the child to the place where the child normally lives; and

(b) that individual must, so far as reasonably practicable, ensure that the child complies with a direction or instruction given by the relevant officer to the child.

(10) Where a relevant officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a child is repeatedly failing to comply with the restriction under Part 3, the relevant officer may direct an individual who has responsibility for the child to secure, so far as reasonably practicable, that the child complies with that restriction.

(11) A relevant officer may only exercise the power under this regulation if the relevant officer considers that it is a necessary and proportionate means of ensuring compliance with any restriction or requirement in these Regulations.

(12) A relevant officer exercising a power under this regulation may give the person concerned any reasonable instruction the relevant officer considers to be necessary.

(13) For the purposes of this regulation—

(a) “child” means a person under the age of 18;

(b) an individual has responsibility for a child if the individual—

(i) has custody or charge of the child for the time being; or

(ii) has parental responsibility for the child (within the meaning of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(1)).

(c) references to a requirement include references to a restriction.

(1)

S.I. 1995/ 755 (N.I. 2)