A2.305 The effective date of HRA 1998

A2.305 The effective date of HRA 1998

HRA 1998 came fully into force on 2 October 2000¹. It was not introduced with retrospective effect, but there is a degree of retrospectivity with regard to its ambit. This arises by reason of HRA 1998, s 22(4). That provision, which came into force on 9 November 1998², provides that HRA 1998, s 7(1)(b) 'applies to proceedings brought by or at the instigation of a public authority whenever the act in question took place; but otherwise that subsection does not apply to an act taking place before the coming into force of that section (ie 2 October 2000)'. In R (Hurst)³, Lord Brown said that HRA 1998, s 22(4):

'has been recognised to operate so as to allow victims to invoke rights which would otherwise be unenforceable in domestic law. Convention rights may be used as a shield to defeat proceedings brought against victims by public authorities, but not as a sword.'

As neither HRA 1998, s 6 nor s 7 has retrospective effect, on a literal reading of HRA 1998, s 6, an act committed by a public authority