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The Public Order (Prescribed Forms) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

S.I. 2004/416 · Made 19 February 2004

Original text. legislation.gov.uk does not revise statutory instruments, so later amendments are not shown here. Changes made to it are listed under each provision when known.

PUBLIC ORDER, NORTHERN IRELAND

Made 19th February 2004

Laid before Parliament 20th February 2004

Coming into force 12th March 2004

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 6(3) and 7(3) of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998f1 hereby makes the following Regulations:

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

1998 c. 2.

Contents

  1. 1Citation and commencement
  2. 2Notice of public processions and related protest meetings
  3. 3Revocation
  4. Signature
  5. Schedule 1Schedule 1
  6. Schedule 2Schedule 2
  7. Explanatory note

1Citation and commencement

These Regulations may be cited as the Public Order (Prescribed Forms) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 and shall come into force on 12th March 2004.

2Notice of public processions and related protest meetings

(1)

The form in Schedule 1 to these Regulations is hereby prescribed for the purposes of section 6(3)(a) of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 (advance notice of public processions).

(2)

The form in Schedule 2 to these Regulations is hereby prescribed for the purposes of section 7(3)(a) of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 (advance notice of protest meetings related to public processions).

3Revocation

The Public Order (Prescribed Forms) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000f1 are hereby revoked.

Signature

Jane Kennedy

Minister of State

Northern Ireland Office

19th February 2004

Schedule 1

Schedule 2

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prescribe the forms for notice of a public procession or related protest meeting as required by section 6(3) and 7(3) of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998. They replace and revoke the Public Order (Prescribed Forms) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 (S.I. 2000/155).

The principal changes to the form prescribed in Schedule 1 (Notice of intention to organise a public procession) are as follows—

  • The “Notes for Organisers” section now makes clear that non-compliance with the Code of Conduct issued by the Parades Commission (“the Code”) will be taken into account by the Commission in consideration of any future notice. The organiser will continue to be offered a copy of the Code and the other statutory documents by the police officer taking receipt of the completed form, as at present;

  • The requirement to provide information on certain aspects of parading has been removed (e.g. the names and addresses of persons in charge of bands, and the names of speakers at services or meetings, are no longer required);

  • Part 2 of the form “Procession details” has been revised to make clear that where a parade has both an outward and a return route, details of both stages are required;

  • In the section of Part 2 dealing with the organiser’s control arrangements, details are now sought on the proposed method of communication between organisers/marshals and the police and other emergency services;

  • In future, when signing the form the organiser will be required to state that he has read and understood the Code, rather than merely that he has obtained a copy, as at present; he will also be asked to state that he is aware of his responsibilities as a parade organiser.

The above changes are mirrored, so far as is appropriate, in the form prescribed in Schedule 2 (Advance notice of protest meetings related to public processions).

Copies of the Code may be obtained from the Parades Commission (tel 02890 895900), free of charge, or from police stations in Northern Ireland.