Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016

Valid from 31/03/2023

What order does S

16 Content and duration of order S

(1) A sexual harm prevention order is an order prohibiting the person against whom it is made from doing, or requiring the person to do, a thing or things described in the order.

(2) A prohibition or requirement contained in a sexual harm prevention order applies throughout the United Kingdom (unless expressly confined to particular localities).

(3) A prohibition or requirement contained in a sexual harm prevention order has effect for a fixed period, specified in the order, of not less than 5 years.

(4) Different periods may be provided for different prohibitions or requirements.

(5) Subsection (3) is subject, in the case of a prohibition on foreign travel, to subsection (1) of section 17.

(6) The prohibitions and requirements which may be imposed in a sexual harm prevention order are those necessary for the purpose of—

(a) protecting the public, or any particular members of the public, from sexual harm from the person against whom the order is made, or

(b) protecting children or vulnerable adults generally, or any particular children or vulnerable adults, from sexual harm from the person against whom the order is made outside the United Kingdom.

(7) Where a court makes a sexual harm prevention order in relation to a person already subject to such an order (whether made by that court or another), the earlier order ceases to have effect.

(8) A sexual harm prevention order ceases to have effect, if it has not already done so, when all of the prohibitions or requirements contained in it have ceased to have effect.

17 Prohibitions on foreign travel S

(1) A prohibition on foreign travel contained in a sexual harm prevention order must be for a fixed period of not more than 5 years.

(2) A “prohibition on foreign travel” means—

(a) a prohibition on travelling to any country outside the United Kingdom named or described in the order,

(b) a prohibition on travelling to any country outside the United Kingdom other than a country named or described in the order, or

(c) a prohibition on travelling to any country outside the United Kingdom.

(3) Subsection (1) does not prevent a prohibition on foreign travel from being extended for a further period (of no more than 5 years each time) under section 20.

(4) A sexual harm prevention order that contains a prohibition within subsection (2)(c) must require the person who is subject to the order to surrender all of the person's passports at a police station specified in the order—

(a) on or before the date when the prohibition takes effect, or

(b) within a period specified in the order.

(5) In this section, “passport” means—

(a) a United Kingdom passport within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971,

(b) a passport issued by or on behalf of the authorities of another country,

(c) a passport issued by or on behalf of an international organisation,

(d) a document that can be used (in some or all circumstances) instead of a passport.

(6) Any passports surrendered in accordance with the requirement must be returned as soon as reasonably practicable after the person ceases to be subject to a sexual harm prevention order containing such a prohibition (unless the person is subject to an equivalent prohibition under another order).

(7) Subsection (6) does not apply in relation to—

(a) a passport issued by or on behalf of the authorities of another country if the passport has been returned to those authorities,

(b) a passport issued by or on behalf of an international organisation if the passport has been returned to that organisation.