# The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Relevant Official Records) (Amendment) Order 2026, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Order)
Article 2 of this Order amends the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Relevant Official Records) Order 2012 (S.I. 2012/2279) (“the 2012 Order”).
Article 2 of the 2012 Order prescribes the records which constitute “relevant official records” for the purposes of section 95 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (c. 9) (“the 2012 Act”). This Order removes the words “which are relevant to any application under section 92 of the Act” from article 2 of the 2012 Order. The amendment ensures that the definition of “relevant official records” operates consistently across the statutory disregard and pardon provisions in Part 5 of the 2012 Act and Part 9 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 (c. 3), including provisions to be inserted into those Acts on the commencement of sections 116, 117 and 242 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 (c. 20) which establish disregard and pardon arrangements in relation to certain offences and do not require an application under section 92 of the 2012 Act.
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this statutory instrument as no, or no significant impact, on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/977/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/protection-of-freedoms-act-2012-relevant-official-records-amendment-order-2026/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.