Equality Act 2004

PART 3

Amendments to Equal Status Act 2000

Amendment of section 2.

47.—Section 2 (interpretation) of the Act of 2000 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by substituting the following definition for the definition of “proceedings”:

“‘proceedings’ means—

(a) proceedings before the person, body or court dealing with a request or reference under this Act by or on behalf of a person, and

(b) any subsequent proceedings, including proceedings on appeal, arising from the request or reference,

but does not include proceedings for an offence under this Act;”,

and

(ii) by inserting the following definition:

“‘provision’ means a term in a contract or a requirement, criterion, practice, regime, policy or condition affecting a person;”,

and

(b) by adding the following subsection:

“(3) In any proceedings a respondent is presumed, unless the contrary is shown, to fail to do something when—

 (a) the respondent does an act inconsistent with doing it, or

 (b) the period expires during which the respondent might reasonably have been expected to do it.”.