Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010

5 Approval of sentencing guidelines by High Court

(1) Sentencing guidelines have no effect unless approved by the High Court of Justiciary.

(2) On submitting sentencing guidelines to the High Court for approval, the Council must also provide the High Court with the assessments referred to in section 3(5).

(3) Where the Council submits sentencing guidelines to the High Court for approval, the Court may—

(a) approve the proposed guidelines—

(i) in whole or in part,

(ii) with or without modifications, or

(b) reject the proposed guidelines, in whole or in part.

(4) Where the High Court—

(a) rejects any of the proposed guidelines, or

(b) modifies any of them,

the Court must state its reasons for doing so.

(5) Sentencing guidelines approved by the High Court take effect on such date as the Court may determine.

(6) Different dates may be determined in relation to—

(a) different provisions of the guidelines, or

(b) different purposes.

(7) As soon as possible after the approval of sentencing guidelines by the High Court, the Council must publish—

(a) the guidelines as approved (including the date on which they take effect), and

(b) the assessments referred to in section 3(5) (revised as necessary to take account of any modifications of the guidelines prior to their approval).

(8) The guidelines and assessments are to be published in such manner as the Council considers appropriate.