Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025

59 Prohibition on personal conduct of case

(1) The Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004 is amended as follows.

(2) In section 18(1) (the special measures)—

(a) in paragraph (d), the word “and” is repealed,

(b) after paragraph (d) insert—

“(da) prohibition on personal conduct of case by one or more of the parties to the proceedings in accordance with sections 22B to 22D, and”.

(3) In section 22B (prohibition on personal conduct of case) (inserted by section 4(5) of the 2020 Act)—

(a) for subsection (1), substitute—

“(1) Where the special measure to be used is prohibition on personal conduct of case, the court must prohibit the party or parties identified in the order from conducting their own case in person.”,

(b) subsections (2) and (3) are repealed.

(4) In section 22D (presumption that personal conduct of case should be prohibited) (inserted by section 4(5) of the 2020 Act), in subsection (1), in paragraph (b), for the words from “other proceedings” to the end substitute “proceedings other than relevant proceedings”.