Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023

18 Reports: general provision U.K.

(1) The Chief Commissioner must comply with sections 15 to 17 as soon as is practicable after the review has been carried out.

(2) But subsection (1) does not apply to—

(a) producing under section 15, and giving and publishing under section 17(2) and (3), the final report on the findings of an excepted review, or

(b) publishing under section 17(6) the statement of the manner in which an excepted review was carried out.

(3) For that purpose an “excepted review” is—

(a) a review of a death that was caused by conduct forming part of the Troubles, or

(b) a review of other harmful conduct forming part of the Troubles,

if the Commissioner for Investigations refers any of that conduct to a prosecutor under section 25 (the “relevant conduct”).

(4) Instead, in such a case, the final report is not to be produced and published, or the statement is not to be published, unless and until—

(a) the prosecutor has made a decision not to prosecute P for any relevant offence, or

(b) if the prosecutor has made a decision to prosecute P for any relevant offence or offences, the public prosecution or prosecutions are no longer continuing.

(5) Section 16 or 17 and this section do not require the Chief Commissioner—

(a) to give a copy of a draft of a final report, material which it is proposed to include in a final report, or a final report, to any person, or

(b) to publish a final report or statement of the manner in which a review was carried out,

unless (and until) the Chief Commissioner can do so in accordance with sections 4(1) and 30(2).

(6) Paragraph 8 of Schedule 6 makes provision about—

(a) other material that must be included in a final report, and

(b) circumstances in which a new final report must be produced.

(7) Paragraph 3(2)(d) and (e) of Schedule 5 (certain circumstances in which a public prosecution is, or is not, continuing) apply for the purposes of this section.

(8) In this section—

• “P” means the person who carried out the relevant conduct;

• “relevant offence”, in relation to a referral to a prosecutor under section 25, means—

  (a)

  a suspected offence notified to the prosecutor under section 25 in connection with the referral, and

  (b)

  any other offence which the relevant conduct constitutes.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 18 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 63(4)

I2 S. 18(1)(2)(a), (3)-(8) in force at 1.5.2024 by S.I. 2024/584, reg. 2(n) (with regs. 3, 4)