As a result of amendments made by section 86 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, a supervised release order may not be made in relation to a sexual offender where the offence is committed on or after 30 September 1998. Where, however, a person is convicted of a sexual offence committed before that date he may still be subject to an order.

It is therefore necessary that the nature of the crime and the date on which it was committed are known and paragraph 2(2) of this Act of Adjournal makes the necessary amendment to Form 20.3 which is prescribed in relation to such orders by the Act of Adjournal (Criminal Procedure Rules) 1996.

Section 86 also repealed the words “not less than twelve months but” in section 209(1) of the 1995 Act. Paragraph 2(3) makes the necessary consequential amendment to the wording of Form 20.3.

Paragraph 3 amends rules 40.2, 40.3 and 40.4 to make it clear that even if a relevant authority has not become a party to proceedings in response to service on him of a devolution issues notice he may still be allowed by the court to become a party to any subsequent appeal or reference to a higher court.