2008 No. 378

NORTHERN IRELAND

The Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 (Amnesty Period) Order 2008

Made

Coming into force

A draft of this Order has been laid before Parliament and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament in pursuance of section 2(4) of the Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997.

Accordingly, the Secretary of State in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2)(b) of the Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 19971, makes the following Order:

Citation and Commencement1

This Order may be cited as the Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 (Amnesty Period) Order 2008 and shall come into force on 19 February 2008.

Appointed day2

The day appointed for the purposes of section 2(2)(b) of the Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 is 14 February 2009, being not more than twelve months after the day on which this Order is made or later than 27 February 2010.

Revocation3

The Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 (Amnesty Period) Order 20072 is revoked.

Shaun WoodwardOne of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of StateNorthern Ireland Office
EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

Under section 2(1) of the Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 (the “1997 Act”) a decommissioning scheme must identify a period during which firearms, ammunition and explosives may be dealt with in accordance with the scheme (the “amnesty period”). Under section 2(2) of the 1997 Act the amnesty period must end before 27 February 2003 or such later day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint. Section 2(3) of the 1997 Act, which restricts the power in section 2(2)(b) to appoint a day by order, was amended by the Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning (Amendment) Act 2002 and further by the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 so that the day appointed by order under section 2(2)(b) may be no more than twelve months after the date on which the order was made and no later than 27 February 2010.

The Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 (Amnesty Period) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/715) appointed 20 February 2008 as the day before which the amnesty period identified in a decommissioning scheme must end. This Order appoints 14 February 2009 as the day before which the amnesty period identified in a decommissioning scheme must end.