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.