{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-and-criminal-evidence-northern-ireland-order-1989/article-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-and-criminal-evidence-northern-ireland-order-1989/article-2.json",
  "legislation": "nisi/1989/1341",
  "legislation_title": "The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/police-and-criminal-evidence-northern-ireland-order-1989",
  "path": "article/2",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "General interpretation",
  "text": "(1) The 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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n“designated police station” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 36;\n“document” means anything in which information of any description is recorded;\n“intimate search” means a search which consists of the physical examination of a person's body orifices;\n“items subject to legal privilege” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 12;\n“parent or guardian” means—\nSub‐para. (a) rep. by 1995 NI 2\n(b)in the case of a child ... in the care of a ... Health and Social Care trust, that ... Health and Social Care trust;\nDefinitions rep. by 2000 c. 32\n“premises” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 25;\n“recordable offence” means any offence to which regulations under Article 29 apply;\n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n“statutory provision” has the meaning given in section 1( f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954;\n“the terrorism provisions” means sections 41 and 43B of the Terrorism Act 2000, and any provision of Schedule 7 to that Act conferring a power of detention;\n“terrorism” has the meaning given in section 1 of that Act.\n“vessel” includes any ship, boat, raft or other apparatus constructed or adapted for floating on water.\n(3) Subject to paragraphs (4) and (4A), a person is in police detention for the purposes of this Order if—\n(a) he has been taken to a police station after being arrested for an offence or after being arrested under section 41 or 43B of the Terrorism Act 2000 or section 27 of the National Security Act 2023; or\n(b) he is arrested at a police station after attending voluntarily at the station or accompanying a constable to it, or\n(c) he is arrested at a police station after being taken to the station in pursuance of a direction under section 16 of the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953,\nand is detained there or is detained elsewhere in the charge of a constable.\n(4) A person—\n(a) who is at a court after being charged; or\n(b) who has been taken from a custodial establishment and held in police custody pending his appearance at a court,\nis not in police detention for those purposes.\n(4A) Where a person is in another's lawful custody by virtue of paragraph 8, 22(1) or 23(2) of Schedule 2 to the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2003, he shall be treated as being in police detention for the purposes of this Order.\n(5) In this Order “custodial establishment” includes a prison, a young offenders centre, a juvenile justice centre and a remand centre.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "1954 c. 33 (NI)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Art. 2(2): definition of \"arrestable offence\" repealed (1.3.2007) by Police and Criminal Evidence (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/288 (N.I. 2)), arts. 1(2), 15(4), 41(2), Sch. 1 para. 26(1), Sch. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "1997 NI 21"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "rep. by 1998 NI 9"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words in art. 2(2) omitted (1.4.2022) by virtue of Health and Social Care Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 (c. 3), s. 8(1)(b), Sch. 1 para. 132(a); S.R. 2022/102, art. 2(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Art. 2(2): words in definition of \"parent or guardian\" substituted (1.4.2009) by Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 (c. 1), ss. 32, 34(3), Sch. 6 para. 1(1)(c) (with Sch. 6 para. 1(3)); S.R. 2009/114, art. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Words in art. 2(2) omitted (1.4.2022) by virtue of Health and Social Care Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 (c. 3), s. 8(1)(b), Sch. 1 para. 132(b); S.R. 2022/102, art. 2(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "Art. 2(2): definition of \"serious arrestable offence\" repealed (1.3.2007) by Police and Criminal Evidence (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/288 (N.I. 2)), arts. 1(2), 15(4), 41(2), Sch. 1 para. 26(1), Sch. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "1954 c. 33 (NI)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F10",
      "text": "2000 c. 11"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F11",
      "text": "Words in art. 2(2) substituted (28.6.2022) by Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (c. 32), s. 208(5)(w), Sch. 19 para. 4(2)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F12",
      "text": "Words in art. 2(3) substituted (1.3.2007) by Police and Criminal Evidence (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/288 (N.I. 2)), arts. 1(2), 41(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F13",
      "text": "2000 c. 11"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F14",
      "text": "Words in art. 2(3)(a) inserted (28.6.2022) by Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (c. 32), s. 208(5)(w), Sch. 19 para. 4(2)(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F15",
      "text": "Words in art. 2(3)(a) inserted (20.12.2023) by The National Security Act 2023 (Consequential Amendments of Primary Legislation) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1386), reg. 1(2), Sch. para. 9(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F16",
      "text": "1995 NI 17"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F17",
      "text": "2003 c. 6"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F18",
      "text": "1998 NI 9"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "words substituted in earlier affecting provision 2015 c. 9 (N.I.), Sch. 2 para. 6(3)(b)",
      "affecting": "nia/2022/4",
      "affecting_title": "Criminal Justice (Committal Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1989/1341/article/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T04:47:15.355333+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."
}