Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Act 2026

Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Act 2026

2026 asp 13

The Act

Overview

Part 1: Non-surgical Procedures

Section 3: Offence of providing a non-surgical procedure outwith permitted premises

31. This section creates an offence of providing a non-surgical procedure to another person outwith permitted premises, as defined in section 4 of the Act. In terms of providing a non-surgical procedure under this section, it is considered that this could apply to not only the person administering a non-surgical procedure but also to a person (whether an individual or a legal person) providing the procedure in the broader sense of supplying the procedure. Depending on the circumstances, this could include a person who: makes available the premises where the offence is committed, purchases and supplies the materials or substances required in connection with the non-surgical procedure, or who arranges the recruitment (or training) of staff in connection with the provision of non-surgical procedures.

32. Subsection (2) provides that it is a defence to show that the accused reasonably believed that the non-surgical procedure in question was being provided in permitted premises. This may apply, for example, where the accused is an employee who is working at what the employee believed to be permitted premises by virtue of being an independent hospital registered with HIS (see section 4(1)(b) of the Act, discussed below) but in fact those premises were not correctly registered with HIS.

33. Subsection (3) provides that the accused is subject to no more than an evidential burden of proof to bring forward enough evidence to raise an issue with respect to the defence. The legal burden of disproving the defence and proving that the offence has been committed stays with the prosecution.