Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016

Valid from 31/03/2023

15 Qualifying offender: conviction etc. outside United Kingdom S

(1) This section applies to a person if, whether before or after this Chapter comes into force, under the law in force in a country outside the United Kingdom—

(a) the person has been convicted of an equivalent offence (whether or not the person has been punished for it),

(b) a court exercising jurisdiction under that law has made in respect of an equivalent offence a finding equivalent to a finding that the person is not guilty by reason of insanity,

(c) such a court has made in respect of an equivalent offence a finding equivalent to a finding that, in respect of the offence, the person is under a disability and has done the act or made the omission charged, or

(d) the person has been cautioned, or received another type of warning equivalent to a caution in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, in respect of an equivalent offence following an admission of it.

(2) In subsection (1), “equivalent offence” means an act or omission which, at the time it was done or made—

(a) constituted an offence under the law in force in the country concerned, and

(b) would have constituted an offence listed in schedule 3 (other than at paragraph 60) or schedule 5 of the 2003 Act if it had been done or made in any part of the United Kingdom.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), an act or omission punishable under the law in force in a country outside the United Kingdom constitutes an offence under that law however it is described in that law.

(4) In relation to an application under section 12 where subsection (1) is alleged to apply, subsection (2)(b) is to be taken to be satisfied unless—

(a) not later than rules of court may provide, the person against whom the order is sought (“the respondent”) serves on the chief constable a notice—

(i) stating that, on the facts as alleged with respect to the act or omission concerned, it is not in the respondent's opinion satisfied,

(ii) setting out the respondent's grounds for that opinion, and

(iii) requiring the chief constable to prove that it is satisfied, or

(b) the court permits the respondent to require the chief constable to prove that subsection (2)(b) is satisfied without service of such a notice.