The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is a law aiming at the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, which had been adopted in order to eliminate conflicts between Protestants and Catholics as well as to reintroduce the devolved Northern Irish government that had been abolished by the Northern Irish parliament in 1972. It establishes the constitutional structure of Northern Ireland and came into force on 1 January 2000 leading to the founding of the Northern Ireland Assembly as well as the Northern Ireland Executive. In addition, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (Section 75) introduced the equality duties mentioned in the chapter “Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity” of the Good Friday Agreement imposing such duties on public institutions for the first time.

The next chapter will present the legal obligations according to Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act in a more precise way.