The Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 8) Order 2011

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This is the eighth Commencement Order made under the Equality Act 2010 (c. 15) (“the Act”). The Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/1736 (C. 91)), the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/1966 (C. 104)), the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 3) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/2191 (C. 109)), the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 4, Savings, Consequential, Transitional, Transitory and Incidental Provisions and Revocation) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/2317 (C. 112)) (as amended by the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 4, Savings, Consequential, Transitional, Transitory and Incidental Provisions and Revocation) Order 2010 (Amendment) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/2337 (C. 113))), the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 5) Order 2011 (S.I. 2011/96 (C. 5)), the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 6) Order 2011 (S.I. 2011/1066) (C. 43) and the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 7) Order 2011 (S.I. 2011/1636 (C. 62)) brought into force most of the provisions of the Act. The fourth Commencement Order (as amended) also set out savings, consequential, transitional, transitory and incidental provisions and a revocation in relation to existing legislation, which were required as a result of the repeal and revocation of previous discrimination legislation and its replacement by the Act. The Equality Act 2010 (Consequential Amendments, Saving and Supplementary Provisions) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/2279) amended the Act, including by adding new provisions into the Act and renumbering existing provisions.

This Order commences section 202 of the Act for remaining purposes on 5th December 2011. The effect of this Order is to bring into force the provisions of section 202 which were not brought into force by the seventh Commencement Order, including section 202(2) and what remains of section 202(4). Section 202(2) removes from the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c. 33) (“the CPA”) the prohibition which prevents civil partnerships from being registered on religious premises. The remainder of section 202(4) inserts a new provision into the CPA to make it explicit that nothing in the CPA obliges religious organisations to host civil partnerships if they do not wish to do so.