PART VII Solemn Proceedings
The indictment
69 Notice of previous convictions.
1
No mention shall be made in the indictment of previous convictions, nor shall extracts of previous convictions be included in the list of productions annexed to the indictment.
2
If the prosecutor intends to place before the court any previous conviction, he shall cause to be served on the accused along with the indictment a notice in the form set out in an Act of Adjournal or as nearly as may be in such form, and any conviction specified in the notice shall be held to apply to the accused unless he gives, in accordance with subsection (3) below, written intimation objecting to such conviction on the ground that it does not apply to him or is otherwise inadmissible.
3
Intimation objecting to a conviction under subsection (2) above shall be given—
a
where the accused is F1indicted to the High Court, to the Crown Agent not less than seven clear days before the preliminary hearing;
F1b
where the accused is indicted to the sheriff court, to the procurator fiscal at least five clear days before the first day of the sitting in which the trial diet is to be held.
.
4
Where notice is given by the accused under section 76 of this Act of his intention to plead guilty and the prosecutor intends to place before the court any previous conviction, he shall cause to be served on the accused along with the indictment a notice in the form set out in an Act of Adjournal or as nearly as may be in such form.
F24A
A notice served under subsection (2) or (4) above shall include any details which the prosecutor proposes to provide under section 101(3A) of this Act; and subsection (3) above shall apply in relation to intimation objecting to the provision of such details, on the grounds that they do not apply to the accused or are otherwise inadmissible, as it applies in relation to intimation objecting to a conviction.
5
Where the accused pleads guilty at any diet, no objection to any conviction of which notice has been served on him under this section F3, or to the provision of such details as are, by virtue of subsection (4A) above, included in a notice so served, shall be entertained unless he has, at least two clear days before the diet, given intimation to the procurator fiscal of the district to the court of which the accused is cited for the diet.
F46
This section applies in relation to the alternative disposals mentioned in subsection (7) below as it applies in relation to previous convictions.
7
Those alternative disposals are—
a
a—
i
fixed penalty under section 302(1) of this Act;
ii
compensation offer under section 302A(1) of this Act,
that has been accepted (or deemed to have been accepted) by the accused in the two years preceding the date of an offence charged;
b
a work order under section 303ZA(6) of this Act that has been completed in the two years preceding the date of an offence charged.F5;
c
a restoration notice given under subsection (4) of section 20A of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 6) in respect of which the accused has given notice of intention to comply under subsection (5) of that section in the two years preceding the date of an offence charged.
F68
Any reference in this section to a previous conviction includes, where relevant, a conviction by a court in any part of the United Kingdom or in any member State of the European Union.