Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2000 No. 261

HEALTH AND SAFETY

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Made

23rd August 2000

Coming into operation

1st October 2000

The Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 9(1), 13(1)(a) and 25(5), of the Industrial Tribunals (Northern Ireland) Order 1996(1), and now vested in it (2), and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 and shall come into operation on 1st October 2000.

(2) In these Regulations, “the principal Regulations” means the Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(3) and any reference to a rule in a Schedule is a reference to a rule in that Schedule to the Principal Regulations.

Amendment of regulation 7 of the Principal Regulations

2.  For regulation 7 of the Principal Regulations there shall be substituted the following—

“7.— (1) The Secretary shall maintain a Register at the Office of the Tribunals which shall be open to the inspection of any person without charge at all reasonable hours.

(2) The Register shall contain—

(a) details of originating applications in accordance with rule 2 of Schedule 1;

(b) details of appeals in accordance with rule 5 of Schedule 3, rule 3 of Schedule 4 and rule 2 of Schedule 5;

(c) the fact of applications in accordance with rule 4 of Schedule 4; and

(d) documents recording the decisions of tribunals and the reasons therefor in accordance with rule 10 of Schedule 1, rule 10 of Schedule 2, rule 11 of Schedule 3, rule 9 of Schedule 4 and rule 7 of Schedule 5.

(3) The register, or any part of it, may be kept by means of a computer.”.

Amendment of rule 2 of Schedule 1

3.—(1) For rule 2(2) of Schedule 1 there shall be substituted the following—

“(2) The Secretary shall enter such of the details of an originating application as are referred to it in paragraph (4) in the Register either within 28 days of receiving it or, if that is not practicable, as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter.”

(2) The following shall be inserted after rule 2(3) of Schedule 1—

“(4) The details of an originating application to be entered in the Register are—

(a) the case number;

(b) the date the Secretary received the application;

(c) the name and address of the applicant;

(d) the name and address of the respondent;

(e) the place where the application was presented; and

(f) the type of claim brought in general terms without reference to its particulars.

(5) In any case appearing to the Secretary to involve allegations of the commission of a sexual offence, where any person referred to in paragraph 4(c) or 4(d) appears to the Secretary to be a person affected by or making the allegations he shall omit from the Register the details in paragraph 4(c) or 4(d), as the case may be, relating to that person.”.

Amendment of rule 8 of Schedule 1

4.  In rule 8(3)(b)(iii) for the words “Article 3(1) of the No. 1 Order” there shall be substituted the words “Article 96(1) of the Industrial Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1992.”.

Amendment of rule 5 of Schedule 3

5.  For rule 5(a) of Schedule 3 there shall be substituted the following—

“(a) enter the following details of the appeal in the Register namely—

(i) the case number;

(ii) the date the Secretary received the relevant documents;

(iii) the name and address of the appellant;

(iv) the name and address of the Board;

(v) the Industrial Tribunal Office dealing with the appeal; and

(vi) the fact that the appeal is an appeal by a person assessed to a levy imposed under a levy order made under Article 23(2) of the Order of 1984.”

Amendment of rule 3 of Schedule 4

6.  For rule 3 of Schedule 4 there shall be substituted the following—

“3.   Upon receiving a notice of appeal the Secretary shall—

(a) enter the following details of the appeal in the Register, namely—

(i) the case number;

(ii) the date the Secretary received the notice of appeal;

(iii) the name and address of the appellant;

(iv) the name and address of the respondent;

(v) the Industrial Tribunal Office dealing with the appeal; and

(vi) the fact that the appeal is an appeal against an improvement or prohibition notice, as the case may be, served under Article 23 or 24(2) of the Order of 1978;

(b) send a copy of it to the respondent; and

(c) inform the parties in writing of the case number of the appeal entered in the Register (which shall thereafter constitute the title of the proceedings) and of the address to which notices and other communications to the Secretary shall be sent.”.

Amendment of rule 4 of Schedule 4

7.  For rule 4(2) of Schedule 4 there shall be substituted the following—

“(2) Upon receiving the application, the Secretary shall enter the fact of it against the entry in the Register relating to the appeal and shall send a copy of it to the respondent.”.

Amendment of rule 2 of Schedule 5

8.  For rule 2 of Schedule 5 there shall be substituted the following—

“2.— (1) Upon receiving a notice of appeal the Secretary shall—

(a) enter the following details of the appeal in the Register, namely—

(i) the case number;

(ii) the date the Secretary received the notice of appeal;

(iii) the name and address of the appellant;

(iv) the name and address of the respondent;

(v) the Industrial Tribunal Office dealing with the appeal; and

(vi) the fact that the appeal is an appeal against a non-discrimination notice served under Article 67(2) of the Order of 1976 or Article 55(2) of the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997(4), as the case may be;

(b) send a copy of it to the respondent; and

(c) inform the parties in writing of the case number of the appeal entered in the Register (which shall thereafter constitute the title of the proceedings) and of the address to which notices and other communications to the Secretary shall be sent.

(2) In any case appearing to the Secretary to involve allegations of the commission of a sexual offence, he shall omit details referred to in paragraph (1)(a)(iii) from the Register where that person appears to the Secretary to be a person affected by or making the allegations.”.

Transitional Provision

9.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the amendments to the Principal Regulations made by these Regulations shall apply in relation to all proceedings to which they relate, irrespective of when those proceedings were commenced.

(2) The duty of the Secretary to enter the address of the applicant, respondent, appellant or Board, as the case may be, in the Register, shall apply only in relation to proceedings which are commenced on or after the date these Regulations come into operation.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment on 23rd August 2000.

L.S.

Dr. Seán Farren

Minister for Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend the Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 (“the Principal Regulations”). The amendments relate to the amount of information to be placed by the Secretary in the Register, which is open to public inspection, in relation in particular to applications and appeals.

Rule 2 of Schedule 1 to the Principal Regulations is amended to provide that the following details in an originating application are to be entered in the Register—

(a) the case number;

(b) the date the Secretary received the application;

(c) the name and address of the applicant;

(d) the name and address of the respondent;

(e) the address of the Tribunals office dealing with the application; and

(f) the type of claim brought in general terms without reference to its particulars.

Similar amendments are included to the rules in Schedule 3, 4 and 5 to the Principal Regulations. These Schedules relate to appeals by a person assessed to levy imposed under a levy order under Article 23(2) of the Industrial Training (Northern Ireland) Order 1984, appeals against an improvement or prohibition notice under Article 23 or 24(2) of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and appeals against a non-discrimination notice under Article 67(2) of the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 or Article 55(2) of the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

The Regulations include a transitional provision at regulation 9.

The opportunity is taken to correct a minor drafting error in the Principal Regulations: regulation 4 corrects a reference in rule 8 of Schedule 1 to the Principal Regulations.

(1)

S.I. 1996/1921 (N.I. 18)

(2)

The Departments (Transfer and Assignment of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999 (S.R. 1999 No. 481) transferred functions under the Industrial Tribunals (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 to the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment

(3)

S.R. 1996 No. 173, as amended by S.R. 1996 No. 466

(4)

S.I. 1997/869 (N.I. 6)