# The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, Regulation 12: Public authorities

Extent: N.I.

(1) It is unlawful for a public authority —
(a) to discriminate against a person on the grounds of his sexual orientation;
(b) to subject a person to harassment,
in the course of carrying out any functions of the authority, which consist of the provision of:
(a) any form of social security;
(b) healthcare;
(c) any other form of social protection; or
(d) any form of social advantage,
which does not fall within regulation 5.
(2) In this regulation “public authority” —
(a) includes any person certain of whose functions are functions of a public nature; but
(b) does not include any person mentioned in paragraph (3).
(3) The persons mentioned in this paragraph are —
(a) either House of Parliament;
(b) a person exercising functions in connection with proceedings in Parliament;
(c) the Assembly;
(d) a person exercising functions in connection with proceedings in the Assembly;
(e) the Security Service;
(f) the Secret Intelligence Service;
(g) the Government Communications Headquarters; and
(h) any unit or part of a unit of any of the naval, military or air forces of the Crown which is for the time being required by the Secretary of State to assist the Government Communications Headquarters in carrying out its functions.
(4) In relation to a particular act, a person is not a public authority by virtue of paragraph (2) if the nature of the act is private.
(5) This regulation is subject to regulations 13 to 15.
(6) Nothing in this regulation makes unlawful any act of discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation, or harassment, which —
(a) is made unlawful by virtue of any other provision of these Regulations; or
(b) would be so made but for any provision made by or under these Regulations.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2006/439/regulation/12 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/equality-act-sexual-orientation-regulations-northern-ireland-2006/regulation-12
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.