Commentary on Sections
Part 7: Supplemental
Section 108: Short title, commencement and extent
525.This section gives the short title of the Act; it also provides for commencement. The provisions of the Act mostly extend to England and Wales. However, the provisions regarding the MDP contained in Part 5 of the Act, PITO, nationality requirements, and the reimbursement of police funds under section 103(6) extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland as well. (The reimbursement of police funds under section 103(7) applies to England and Wales, even though the purpose of the subsection is to allow Scottish funds to be reimbursed.) The provisions regarding NCIS also extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the exception of those contained in Chapter 1 of Part 4 that allow NCIS to designate support staff as investigating officers. The provision regarding the President of ACPO extends to Northern Ireland but not Scotland. In addition, as a general rule, amendments and repeals to existing legislation made by this Act have the same extent as the existing legislation (subsection (9)). So, for example, section 72 (Sex offender orders: Northern Ireland) applies to Northern Ireland. The exceptions to this rule are set out in subsection (10): the provisions of sections 44 and 76 and the additional arrestable offence of driving while disqualified under section 48 apply to England and Wales only. (Generally, the provisions relating to road traffic legislation apply to England, Wales and Scotland but not Northern Ireland.)
