The Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997

Terms of reference

47.—(1) The Commission shall not embark on a formal investigation unless the requirements of this Article have been complied with.

(2) Terms of reference for the investigation shall be drawn up by the Commission or, if the Commission was required by the Department to conduct the investigation, by the Department after consulting the Commission.

(3) It shall be the duty of the Commission to give general notice of the holding of the investigation unless the terms of reference confine it to activities of persons named in them, but in such a case the Commission shall in the prescribed manner give those persons notice of the holding of the investigation.

(4) Where the terms of reference of the investigation confine it to activities of persons named in them and the Commission in the course of it proposes to investigate any act made unlawful by this Order which it believes that a person so named may have done, the Commission shall—

(a) inform that person of its belief and of its proposal to investigate the act in question; and

(b) offer him an opportunity of making oral or written representations with regard to it (or both oral and written representations if he thinks fit).

(5) A person who avails himself of an opportunity under paragraph (4) of making oral representations may be represented—

(a) by counsel or a solicitor; or

(b) by some other person of his choice, not being a person to whom the Commission objects on the ground that he is unsuitable.

(6) The Commission or, if the Commission was required by the Department to conduct the investigation, the Department after consulting the Commission may from time to time revise the terms of reference; and paragraphs (1) and (3) to (5) shall apply to the revised investigation and terms of reference as they applied to the original.