Section 34: Convention rights and EU law: role of the Advocate General in relation to criminal proceedings
192.This section amends the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (“the 1995 Act”). Subsection (3) inserts a new section 288ZA into the 1995 Act, subsections (2) and (3) of which contain a definition of a “compatibility issue” as a question raised in criminal proceedings as to:
whether a public authority has acted in way that is unlawful under section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998 or incompatible with European Union law;
whether an Act of the Scottish Parliament, or a provision of such an Act, is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights or with EU law.
193.The new section inserted by subsection (3) also gives the Advocate General for Scotland a right to take part in criminal proceedings so far as they relate to a compatibility issue. Subsection (7) amends section 288A of the 1995 Act to allow the Advocate General for Scotland, in certain circumstances, to refer a compatibility issue to the High Court for their opinion following the conclusion of trial proceedings.