Equal opportunities and human rights Citation, commencement and extent 1 1 This Order may be cited as the Equality Act 2006 (Dissolution of Commissions and Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Order 2007 and shall come into force on 1st October 2007. 2 This Order does not extend to Northern Ireland. Interpretation 2 In this Order— “the 1975 Act ” means the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 ; “the 1976 Act ” means the Race Relations Act 1976 ; “the 1999 Act ” means the Disability Rights Commission Act 1999 ; “the 2006 Act ” means the Equality Act 2006; except in paragraph (2) of article 4 “the Commission” means the Commission for Equality and Human Rights; and “ the former Commissions ” means the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission. Dissolution of former Commissions 3 The former Commissions shall cease to exist. Consequential amendments and modifications 4 1 The Schedule to this Order shall have effect for the amendment and modification of subordinate legislation in consequence of the dissolution of the former Commissions and the establishment of the Commission. 2 Section 61 of the 1975 Act (restriction on disclosure of information), section 52 of the 1976 Act (restriction on disclosure of information) and paragraph 22 of Schedule 3 to the 1999 Act (restriction on disclosure of information) shall apply in relation to the Commission for Equality and Human Rights as if— a references to the Commission include the Commission for Equality and Human Rights; b references to Commissioner include commissioners of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights; c references to additional Commissioners include Investigating Commissioners under paragraph 9 of Schedule 1 to the 2006 Act; and d references to employees of the Commission include employees of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. Transitional provisions: the Commission and the functions of the former Commissions 5 1 The Commission shall discharge the functions of the former Commissions— a in relation to section 56 of the 1975 Act (annual reports), in so far as those functions relate to the calendar year ending 31st December 2007 and have not been discharged before 1st October 2007, until the Secretary of State has laid a copy of the annual report before Parliament and caused it to be published; b in relation to paragraph 16 of Schedule 1 to the 1999 Act (annual reports), in so far as those functions relate to the financial year beginning 1st April 2007 and have not been discharged before 1st October 2007, until the Secretary of State has laid a copy of the annual report before Parliament and caused it to be published; c in relation to paragraph 15 of Schedule 3 to the 1975 Act (accounts) and paragraph 15 of Schedule 1 to the 1999 Act (accounts), in so far as those functions relate to the financial year beginning 1st April 2007 and have not been discharged before 1st October 2007, until the Comptroller and Auditor General has laid a copy of the statement of accounts and his report on it before Parliament; d in relation to section 46 of the 1976 Act (annual reports), in so far as those functions relate to the calendar years ending 31st December 2006 or 31st December 2007 and have not been discharged before 1st October 2007, until the Secretary of State has laid a copy of the annual report before Parliament and caused it to be published; e in relation to paragraph 17 of Schedule 1 to the 1976 Act (accounts), in so far as those functions relate to the financial years beginning 1st April 2006 or 1st April 2007 and have not been discharged before 1st October 2007, until the Comptroller and Auditor General has laid a copy of the statement of accounts and his report on it before Parliament; f in relation to sections 57 to 60 of the 1975 Act (investigations) and sections 48 to 51 of the 1976 Act (investigations), in so far as those functions relate to any investigation that has been commenced but not concluded before 1st October 2007, until the Commission delivers its report to the Secretary of State, if required, or the Commission publishes the report or otherwise makes it available for inspection; and g in relation to section 70 of the 1975 Act (register of non-discrimination notices) and section 61 of the 1976 Act (register of non-discrimination notices), until 1st October 2013. 2 In its application to any investigation to which paragraph (1)(f) applies, paragraph 9(3)(b) of Schedule 1 to the 2006 Act shall have effect as if, after “section 20”, there were inserted “of this Act, section 57 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 or section 48 of the Race Relations Act 1976”. 3 Section 21(1)(a) of the 2006 Act shall apply in relation to an investigation under section 57 of the 1975 Act or section 48 of the 1976 Act as if, after “section 20(1)(a)”, there were inserted “of this Act, section 57 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 or section 48 of the Race Relations Act 1976”. 4 Section 32(8) of the 2006 Act shall apply in relation to notices issued under section 76D of the 1975 Act (specific duties: enforcement) or section 71D of the 1976 Act (general statutory duty: compliance notices) as if, after “this section”, there were inserted “, section 76D of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 or section 71D of the Race Relations Act 1976”. Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Iain Wright Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Department for Communities and Local Government 7th September 2007