Commentary Public Prosecution Service Section 33: Consents to prosecutions
65.Certain offences are considered serious enough to require the consent of either the Director of Public Prosecutions or (at present) the Attorney General for Northern Ireland before a prosecution can be undertaken. The provisions in this section set out the detail of how this consent is to be given by the Director and used by the courts(3). After devolution, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland will no longer be able to consent to the prosecution of offences and all of those provisions requiring his consent (other than those that relate to “excepted” matters) will be passed to the Director. Commentary on this change is set out at section 41.