Northern Ireland Act 1998

Valid from 01/10/1999

75 Statutory duty on public authorities. U.K.

(1) A public authority shall in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity—

(a) between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation;

(b) between men and women generally;

(c) between persons with a disability and persons without; and

(d) between persons with dependants and persons without.

(2) Without prejudice to its obligations under subsection (1), a public authority shall in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.

(3) In this section “public authority” means—

(a) any department, corporation or body listed in Schedule 2 to the M1 Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 (departments, corporations and bodies subject to investigation) and designated for the purposes of this section by order made by the Secretary of State;

(b) any body (other than the Equality Commission) listed in Schedule 2 to the M2 Commissioner for Complaints (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (bodies subject to investigation);

(c) any department or other authority listed in Schedule 2 to the M3 Ombudsman (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (departments and other authorities subject to investigation);

(d) any other person designated for the purposes of this section by order made by the Secretary of State.

(4) Schedule 9 (which makes provision for the enforcement of the duties under this section) shall have effect.

(5) In this section—

• “disability” has the same meaning as in the M4 Disability Discrimination Act 1995; and

• “racial group” has the same meaning as in the M5 Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 75 wholly in force at 1.1.2000; s. 75 not in force at Royal Assent see s. 101(3); s. 75(3)(a)(d) in force for specified purposes at 1.3.1999 by S.I. 1999/340, art. 2(4); s. 75(4) in force for further specified purposes at 1.10.1999 by S.I. 1999/2204, art. 3; s. 75 in force at 1.1.2000 insofar as not already in force by S.I. 1999/2204, art. 4

Marginal Citations

M1 1967 c.13.

M2 S.I. 1996/1297 (N.I.7).

M3 S.I. 1996/1298 (N.I.8).

M4 1995 c.50.

M5 S.I. 1997/869 (N.I.6).