Commentary on Sections Part 16: General and Miscellaneous Effect
630.1.     This section amends section 6 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, by repealing the prohibition on civil partnerships being registered in religious premises in England and Wales and repealing the definition of “religious premises”.
631.2.      This section also amends section 6A of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, which contains a power to make regulations about the approval of premises for the registration of civil partnerships, by making clear that such regulations may provide for different premises to be approved for registration of civil partnerships from those approved for registration of civil marriages, and for different provision to be made for different kinds of premises. In particular it enables the regulations to set out, in relation to particular denominations, who has the authority to decide whether civil partnerships can be registered on any of their premises, and makes clear that nothing in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 obliges any religious organisation to host civil partnerships if they do not wish to.
632.3.      It also inserts into section 6A definitions of “civil marriage” and “religious premises”. Both definitions are the same as existing definitions in the Civil Partnership Act 2004.