Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that modified the earlier Race Relations Act 1976.

Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to extend further the application of the Race Relations Act 1976 to the police and other public authorities; to amend the exemption under that Act for acts done for the purpose of safeguarding national security; and for connected purposes.
Citation	2000 c. 34
Territorial extent	England and Wales; Scotland
Dates
Repealed	2010
Other legislation
Repealed by	Equality Act 2010
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Background

The act came about due to proposals made in the MacPherson report.^[1]

Provisions

The legislation outlawed race discrimination in areas not covered by the 1976 legislation.^[2] This included the introduction of a broader definition of "public authorities" to cover public functions performed by private organisations. Furthermore it required public authorities to promote racial equality.^[2] The Commission for Racial Equality became empowered to inspect organisations' race policies.^[3]

The act provided a new definition of indirect discrimination, which is when a "provision, criterion or practice" of the employer is applicable to all staff but particularly disadvantages a person of one ethnic or racial group at a particular disadvantage when compared with other employees.^[4]

Finally, government ministers could no longer issue conclusive certificates in cases of racial discrimination by claiming given acts of race discrimination were not unlawful because they were done for the purposes of national security.^[5]