The legislation is set to be used by PSNI officers to tackle human trafficking and labour exploitation, particularly in Northern Ireland’s maritime industry.

The law will empower officers to board, divert and detain vessels, to make arrests, and to seize relevant evidence when probing potential labour exploitation crimes.

The Department of Justice said it “anticipated that these powers will be commenced in early 2016”.

Justice Minister David Ford earlier welcomed the creation of a UK-wide “modern slavery helpline” which will allow members of the public to report suspected cases of labour exploitation.

Mr Ford said the helpline, to be launched this year, would “support law enforcement in disrupting perpetrators and bringing them to justice”.