{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-departments-northern-ireland-order-1999/article-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-departments-northern-ireland-order-1999/article-2.json",
  "legislation": "ukdsi/1999/0110803965",
  "legislation_title": "The Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/draft-departments-northern-ireland-order-1999",
  "path": "article/2",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) The 1954 c. 33 (N.I.)Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall apply to Article 1 and the following provisions of this Order as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.\n(2) In this Order—\n“department” means a Northern Ireland department;\n“Minister”, in relation to a department, means—\n(a) in the case of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, the First Minister and the deputy First Minister acting jointly;\n(b) in the case of any other department, the Minister in charge of that department;\n“statutory provision” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(f) of the 1954 c. 33 (N.I.).Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954.\n(3) References in this Order to a senior officer of a department are references to a person who is employed in that department and is—\n(a) a member of the Northern Ireland senior civil service; or\n(b) a member of the Northern Ireland civil service designated by the department as a senior officer for the purposes of this Order.\n(4) If, and to the extent that, a determination under section 19 of the 1998 c. 47.Northern Ireland Act 1998 so provides, the functions exercisable under this Order by a senior officer of a department shall also be exercisable by a junior Minister; but nothing in this Order authorises a junior Minister to exercise functions otherwise than in accordance with the terms of such a determination.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/1999/0110803965/article/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-30T15:19:51.037375+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}