Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025

28 Approval of application and giving effect to the regulatory scheme

(1) This section applies where the Lord President has considered an application in accordance with section 27.

(2) If the Lord President—

(a) is satisfied with the draft regulatory scheme, the Lord President is to approve the application and inform the body,

(b) is not satisfied with the draft scheme, the Lord President is to refuse the application and inform the body, giving written reasons for the refusal.

(3) As soon as reasonably practicable after notifying the body under subsection (2) of the decision to approve or refuse the application, the Lord President must publish notification of the decision.

(4) Notification under subsection (3) must—

(a) include a summary of the Lord President’s reasons for the decision, and

(b) be published in such manner as the Lord President considers appropriate (having regard to the desirability of the document being accessible to those likely to have an interest in it).

(5) The Lord President must send a copy of a letter approving or refusing an application under this section to any person who has made representations in relation to the draft regulatory scheme under section 26(3).

(6) Where the application has been approved, the Scottish Ministers must, as soon as reasonably practicable, lay before the Scottish Parliament draft regulations under section 7(5) to assign the body as a category 1 or category 2 regulator.

(7) If a body’s application is approved under this section, as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving notice of the Lord President’s approval under subsection (2), the body must—

(a) give effect to the draft regulatory scheme and apply it as its regulatory scheme in relation to its authorised providers and persons applying to it for authorisation, and

(b) publish its regulatory scheme in a manner that is accessible to the public, free of charge, by such electronic means as the body considers appropriate.

(8) For the purposes of this Part, a body which has its application approved under this section is referred to as an accredited regulator.