Other instruments of interest
DRAFT SEX DISCRIMINATION ACT 1975 (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS
2007
17. The Government Equalities Office (GEO) have
laid the draft Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Amendment) Regulations
2007 which amend the 1975 Act and the Public Health Act 1936 to
implement Council Directive 2004/113/EC ("the Gender Directive"),
implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and
women in the access to, and supply of, goods and services. The
Government carried out a consultation process on these proposals
between June and September 2007 alongside the wider package of
proposals for the Equality Bill, seeking views specifically on
three aspects: compatibility with the Directive of existing exceptions
in the 1975 Act, insurance, and defining maternity discrimination.
The Explanatory Memorandum sets out the decisions taken in the
light of consultation including, as regards the definition of
harassment, the decision to lay these Regulations (which draw
on the existing definition in the 1975 Act) in time to meet the
deadline to implement the Gender Directive, while preparing further
Regulations which will amend that definition in the near future.
We received written evidence on the draft Regulations from the
Christian Institute, concerned about the implications for religious
freedom and free speech of the provisions relating to transsexual
people. We asked the GEO to reply to the points raised by the
Christian Institute and both are printed at Appendix 2. We noted
in particular the Christian Institute's concern, and the GEO's
response to the point, that the definition of harassment goes
beyond the requirement of the Gender Directive.
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