2021 No. 156
Criminal Law

The Police Act 1997 (Criminal Record Certificates: Relevant Matters) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2021

Laid before the Assembly in draft
Made
Coming into operation
The Department of Justice makes the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 113A(7)1 of the Police Act 1997 as modified by section 126A(1) and (8)2 of that Act.

Citation and commencement1.

This Order may be cited as the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Record Certificates: Relevant Matters) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2021, and comes into operation on the day after the day on which this Order is approved by resolution of the Assembly.

Amendment of the Police Act 19972.

In section 113A(6) of the Police Act 19973, in the definition of “relevant matter” as it has effect in Northern Ireland–

(a)

in paragraph (a) for “in relation to a person who has one conviction only” substitute “any of the following convictions”;

(b)

omit paragraph (b).

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Justice on 8th June 2021

Naomi Long
Minister of Justice
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the definition of “relevant matter” in the Police Act 1997. The definition of “relevant matter” sets out what information is disclosed by AccessNI in response to an application for a criminal record certificate or an enhanced criminal record certificate. The Order provides for the amendment of a scheme to filter out certain convictions that are old and minor and certain disposals from disclosure on a criminal record certificate or an enhanced criminal record certificate. Specifically, this Order removes the previous requirement whereby AccessNI could not filter any convictions that might be otherwise eligible for filtering except for the fact that an applicant had more than one conviction.