Summary and Background
3.The Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 (“the 1997 Act”) empowered the Secretary of State to make a decommissioning scheme which would provide an amnesty for those decommissioning weapons in accordance with it. The 1997 Act, which came into force on 27 February 1997, limited the period during which that amnesty could be provided to five years.
4.This Act extends the period during which an amnesty may be provided for in a decommissioning scheme. Initially it may be extended so as to end before 27 February 2003 and further extensions may be made by order of the Secretary of State up to and including 26 February 2007. Any such order will be subject to the same Parliamentary scrutiny and control as at present.