Section 46: Goods, facilities and services
176.Under section 46, discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in the provision of goods, facilities and services (by a person whose business or concern it is to provide them to the public or a section of the public) is made unlawful. Thus it will be unlawful for such a person, on the grounds of religion or belief, to:
refuse to provide goods, facilities or services to a person who seeks to obtain or use them;
provide such a person with goods, facilities or services of inferior quality to those which would normally be provided to members of the public or to a section of the public to which the recipient belongs;
provide goods, facilities or services in a different manner (for example more hostile or less courteous) than they would normally be provided to members of the public or to a section of the public to which the recipient belongs; or
provide goods, facilities or services on different terms (for example less favourable) than those on which they would normally be provided to members of the public or to a section of the public to which the recipient belongs.
177.Subsection (2) lists examples of the types of facilities and services in relation to which discrimination under subsection (1) would be unlawful.
178.Subsection (3) ensures that, where a person exercises a skill in a particular way for the purposes of a particular religion (for example the preparation of food), he will not be compelled by this section to exercise it in a different manner for the purposes of another religion.
179.Subsection (4) ensures that this section will not apply in relation to the provision of goods, facilities and services by a person exercising a public function (these are covered in a later section) or where discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services is addressed by another provision of Part 2 or the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in the fields of employment and vocational training.
180.Subsection (5) clarifies that the provision of goods, facilities and services will be caught by this Part irrespective of whether or not the recipient has to pay for them.