The Fair Employment and Treatment Order (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

Made: 10th March 2015

Coming into operation: 6th April 2015

The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, being a Department designated for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 [^f00001] in relation to discrimination [^f00002], makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by that section.

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Fair Employment and Treatment Order (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and shall come into operation on 6th April 2015.

• (2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954[^f00003] shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

Amendment of the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998

2

In Article 70 of the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 [^f00004] (excepted employments, etc), for paragraph (3) substitute -

(3) So far as they relate to discrimination on the ground of religious belief, Parts III and V do not apply to or in relation to any employment or occupation where - (a) the holding, or not holding, of a particular religious belief is an occupational requirement; (b) the application of the requirement is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim; and (c) either - (i) the person (A) to whom that requirement is applied does not meet it; or (ii) the person who applies the requirement has reasonable grounds for not being satisfied that A meets it.

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister on 10th March 2015.

Margaret Rose McNaughton — A senior officer of the — Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations amend Article 70(3) of the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (“the 1998 Order”) to give full effect in Northern Ireland to Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27th November 2000 (“the Directive”) establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation.

Regulation 2 substitutes paragraph (3) of Article 70 of the 1998 Order to ensure that the exception requiring a job to be done by a person holding, or not holding, a particular religious belief fully complies with Article 4 of the Directive. Substituted paragraph (3) disapplies Part III (discrimination in the employment field) and Part V (other unlawful acts) of the 1998 Order, so far as they relate to discrimination on the ground of religious belief, in cases where a person’s religious belief constitutes an occupational requirement, the application of which is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1972 c.68

[^f00002]: See the European Communities (Designation) (No. 3) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/1819)

[^f00003]: 1954 c.33 (N.I.)