378.This section amends Article 6 of the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) 1998 Order, which provides for sex offender orders in Northern Ireland similar to those available in England and Wales. The amendments make changes to the process by which the police may apply for a sex offender order, and provide for the protections afforded by an order to extend UK-wide, in a similar way to the changes made in section 67 with respect to England and Wales and section 70 with respect to Scotland. The only difference is that no change is made to the court which may hear a variation application, as there was no limitation in the original 1998 Order.