The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced earlier this year that the new fire safety rules affecting all non-domestic premises in England and Wales would come into force on 1 October 2006. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, made in June 2005, is the biggest overhaul of fire safety legislation in decades and is designed to avoid legislative duplication by amalgamating the various pieces of fire legislation. Originally, the regulations were due to come into force in April 2006, but in January the ODPM announced it was deferring implementation to give business and stakeholders more time to prepare. The department also wanted to co-ordinate implementation with Scotland, which had announced a date of October 2006 for its new fire legislation as well. That time to prepare is now up.
