
2014 No. 159
Criminal Law
The Right to Information (Suspects and Accused Persons) (Scotland) Regulations 2014
Made 4th June 2014
Laid before the Scottish Parliament 5th June 2014
Coming into force 6th June 2014
The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972  and all other powers enabling them to do so.
Citation, commencement and extent
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(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Right to Information (Suspects and Accused Persons) (Scotland) Regulations 2014 and come into force on 6th June 2014.
(2) These Regulations extend to Scotland only.
Interpretation
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(1) For the purposes of these Regulations, a person is in police custody if the person has been arrested by a constable in connection with an offence, except where arrested under the Extradition Act 2003, and is in custody in a police station or other premises.
(2) In these Regulations—
 “chief constable” means the constable appointed to the office of chief constable under section 7(1)(a) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 ;
 “constable” means a constable of the Police Service of Scotland (as defined by section 99(1) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012);
 “police staff” means staff appointed under section 26(1) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012;
 “the Directive” means Directive 2012/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the right to information in criminal proceedings .
Information about a person's rights
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(1) Paragraph (2) applies to a person who is in police custody.
(2) The person must be provided as soon as reasonably practicable with such information (verbally or in writing) as is necessary to satisfy the requirements of Articles 3 and 4 of the Directive.
(3) A constable must record the time at which, and the identity of the person by whom, the person referred to in paragraph (1) is provided with information in accordance with paragraph (2).
Right to access documents held by the police
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(1) Following a request made by a person held, at any time on or after the coming into force of these Regulations, in police custody, a constable must make available to the person any documents held by a constable or any member of police staff, related to the specific case, which are essential to challenging effectively the lawfulness of the person's detention or arrest as necessary to satisfy the requirements of Article 7(1) of the Directive.
(2) Where documents are made available in accordance with paragraph (1) they must be made available free of charge.
(3) A request made in accordance with paragraph (1) may be refused where—
(a) the documents have already been made available to the person; or
(b) the documents will shortly be made available to the person in accordance with the disclosure provisions contained in Part 6 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 .
(4) The chief constable must publish guidance—
(a) describing the documents which may be requested in accordance with paragraph (1) and how a constable must handle any such request; and
(b) explaining how a person may seek a review of any failure or refusal by a constable to make such documents available.
KENNY MACASKILL

A member of the Scottish Government

St Andrew's House,

Edinburgh
