Section 10: Change of qualifying civil partnership into marriage
52.Section 10 makes provision so that qualifying civil partnerships can be changed to a marriage in accordance with an administrative procedure which may be prescribed by the Scottish Ministers in regulations.
53.By virtue of section 10(7), “qualifying civil partnership” in this section means a civil partnership registered in Scotland which has not been dissolved, annulled or ended by death (see section 5(6) of the 1977 Act, inserted by section 8(3) of this Act). The definition also includes certain overseas civil partnerships treated as having been registered in Scotland (see section 5(7) of the 1977 Act, inserted by section 8(3) of this Act). The definition could be modified by the use of the power in section 9 of the Act.
54.Subsection (2) provides that regulations may in particular make provision on:
the application process (subsection (2)(a));
the information required from the applicants (subsection (2)(b));
evidence to support the application (subsection (2)(c));
any requirement to attend at a particular place or appear before a particular person (subsection (2)(d));
conferring functions on persons (such as, for example, the Registrar General) (subsection (2)(e)). (Subsection (3) makes provision on particular functions which may be conferred);
fees (subsection (2)(f)).
55.Subsections (4) to (6) make provision on procedures in relation to any regulations made by the Scottish Ministers. Under subsection (4), the Scottish Ministers must consult the Registrar General before making any regulations. Under subsections (5) and (6), any regulations are subject to negative Parliamentary procedure unless they amend primary legislation, in which case they are subject to the affirmative procedure.
