2007 No. 264

REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE

The Representation of the People (Post-Local Government Elections Supply and Inspection of Documents) (Scotland) Regulations 2007

Made21st March 2007

Coming into force2nd May 2007

The Scottish Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 5(2), (4), (5) and (8) and section 61 of the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 20061, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations, a draft of which has, in accordance with section 61 of that Act, been laid before, and approved by resolution of the Scottish Parliament:

Citation and commencement1.

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Representation of the People (Post-Local Government Elections Supply and Inspection of Documents) (Scotland) Regulations 2007.

(2)

These Regulations shall come into force on 2nd May 2007.

Interpretation2.

(1)

In these Regulations–

“the 2001 Regulations” means the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 20012;

“the 2006 Act” means the Local Electoral Administration and Registrations (Scotland) Act 2006;

“the Absent Voting Regulations” means the Representation of the People (Absent Voting at Local Government Elections) (Scotland) Regulations 20073.

(2)

Any reference in these Regulations to a rule is to a rule contained in Schedule 1 to the F1Scottish Local Government Elections Order 2011 and any reference to “the Rules” is to be construed as a reference to that Schedule.

(3)

In these Regulations references to the “marked register or lists” means any part of the marked copies of–

(a)

the full register;

(b)

the postal voters list;

(c)

the list of proxies; and

(d)

the proxy postal voters list,

forwarded to the proper officer of the Council under regulation 31 (Forwarding of documents) of the Representation of the People (Postal Voting for Local Government Elections (Scotland) Regulations 20075or F2rule 58(b) and (c) (Delivery of documents) of the Rules.

(4)

For the purposes of these Regulations any period of days shall be calculated in accordance with regulation 11 (Closing date for applications) of the Absent Voting Regulations.

(5)

Sub paragraphs (a) to (c) shall be taken to apply to the supply and processing of information supplied under these Regulations as they apply to the supply and processing of the full register under Part VI of the 2001 Regulations–

(a)

“processor” has the meaning set out in Regulation 114 of the 2001 Regulations;

(b)

any reference to an employee of any person who has access to a copy of the full register shall be deemed to include any person working or providing services for the purposes of that person or employed by or on behalf of, or working for, any person who is so working or who is supplying such a service; and

(c)

a processor may not disclose the full register or the information contained in it except to the person who supplied it to the processor or any other person, or an employee of such a person, who is entitled to obtain a copy of the full register under the 2001 Regulations.

(6)

Subject to any direction by the Scottish Ministers under section 52(1) of the Representation of the People Act 19836, any duty on a proper officer of the Council to supply the marked register or lists or make them available for inspection under these Regulations does not impose a duty to supply that information or make it available otherwise than in the form in which it is held.

Supply of marked registers and lists after an election3.

(1)

The supply by the proper officer of the Council of a copy of the marked copies of the register or any of the lists referred to in section 5(3) of the 2006 Act shall be made following–

(a)

receipt by the proper officer of a request in writing which shall–

(i)

specify whether the request is for the marked register or a list (or the relevant part of the register or a list) and, in the case of a list, which list (or part) is requested;

(ii)

state whether a printed copy of the marked register or list or a copy in data form is requested; and

(iii)

state the purposes for which the copy of the marked register or list will be used and explain why the supply or purchase of a copy of the full register or unmarked lists would not be sufficient to achieve that purpose;

(b)

the proper officer being satisfied that the person making the request needs to see the marks on the marked register or list requested in order to achieve the purposes stated in accordance with sub paragraph (a)(iii);

(c)

receipt by the proper officer of a fee calculated in accordance with regulation 6.

(2)

If the proper officer of the Council is not satisfied in accordance with paragraph (1)(b) the officer may treat the request for a marked register or list as a request for information in unmarked lists under regulation 16 (records and lists kept under Schedule 4) of the Absent Voting Regulations or for the published copy of the full register in accordance with regulation 101 (supply of full register etc. under regulations 102 to 108: general provisions)7 of the 2001 Regulations, or both.

(3)

A person who obtains a copy of any part of a marked register or list following a request made in accordance with this regulation may use the copy or any information contained in the copy–

(a)

for the permitted purposes specified in paragraph (2) of regulation 5; and

(b)

subject to the conditions which would apply to the use of the full register under whichever of regulations 102 (supply of full register etc. to elected representatives for elector purposes and restrictions on use), 105 (supply of full register etc. to registered political parties etc. and restrictions on use) or 107 (supply of full register etc. to certain candidates and restrictions on use) of the 2001 Regulations apply to that person in relation to the full register.

(4)

The permitted purposes and conditions referred to in paragraph (3) apply to a person to whom a copy of the marked register or lists, or any information contained in either of them (that is not contained in the edited register), has been supplied or disclosed as they apply to the person who obtained the copy or, as the case may be, information from the proper officer of the Council.

(5)

Any person who has obtained or is entitled to obtain a copy of the marked register or lists under this regulation may–

(a)

supply a copy of the marked register or lists to a processor for the purpose of processing the information contained therein, or

(b)

procure that a processor processes and supplies to them any copy of the information in the marked register or lists which the processor has obtained under this regulation,

for use in respect of the purposes for which that person is entitled to obtain such copy or information (as the case may be).

Inspection of documents open to public inspection4.

(1)

Where any person wishes to inspect any documents in accordance with section 5(2)(a) of the 2006 Act, that person shall submit a request to the proper officer of the Council in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2)

A request under paragraph (1) shall be made in writing and shall specify–

(a)

which documents are requested;

(b)

the purpose for which the information in any document will be used;

(c)

where the request is to inspect the marked register or lists, any reason why inspecting the full register or unmarked lists would not be sufficient to achieve that purpose;

(d)

who will inspect the documents;

(e)

the date on which they wish to inspect the documents; and

(f)

whether they would prefer to inspect the documents in a printed or data form.

(3)

Subject to paragraph (4), the proper officer of the Council shall make the documents requested available for inspection under supervision not later than 10 days after the date of receipt of a request made under paragraph (1).

(4)

A person who obtains a copy of, or information in, any document open to public inspection under this regulation may use it only for the permitted purposes specified in regulation 5, and subject to any conditions specified in that regulation or in paragraph (6).

(5)

Where inspection takes place by displaying the records or lists on a computer screen or otherwise in data form, the proper officer of the Council shall ensure that the manner in, and equipment on, which that copy is provided do not permit any person consulting that copy to–

(a)

search it by electronic means by reference to the name of any person; or

(b)

copy or transmit any part of that copy by electronic means.

(6)

Subject to paragraph (7) a person who inspects a copy of a document open to public inspection, whether a printed copy or in data form, may not–

(i)

make copies of any part of it; or

(ii)

record any particulars in it,

except by way of hand written notes.

(7)

Paragraph (6) does not apply where the person who inspects a copy of a document open to public inspection is a person mentioned in regulation 108 of the 2001 Regulations (supply of full register etc to police forces and restrictions on use)8.

Conditions on the use, supply and disclosure of documents open to public inspection5.

(1)

Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) the restrictions on the supply, disclosure and use of information in regulations 94 (Restrictions on supply of full register and disclosure of information from it by the registration officer and his staff)9 and 95 (Restriction on use of the full register, or of information contained in it, supplied in accordance with enactments or obtained otherwise)10 of the 2001 Regulations shall apply to the documents open to public inspection as they apply to the full register.

(2)

Where a person–

(a)

obtains copies of the information in the marked register or lists following a request made in accordance with regulation 3(1); or

(b)

a person inspects information following a request made in accordance with regulation 4(1),

the permitted purpose shall mean–

F3(i)

purposes mentioned in Article 89(1) of the F4UK GDPR (archiving in the public interest, scientific or historical research and statistics); or

(ii)

electoral purposes.

(3)

Where a copy of any information was obtained by a person referred to in regulation 4(7), the permitted purpose means the purposes set out in regulation 108(4) of the 2001 Regulations (supply of full register etc to police forces and restrictions on use).

F5(4)

In this regulation, “the UK GDPR” has the meaning given in section 3(10) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Fees relating to the supply of marked registers and lists6.

The fee that shall be paid to the proper officer of the Council under regulation 3(1)(c) by a person prior to their being supplied with copies of the marked register or lists (or any relevant part those documents) shall be F6the sum of £10, plus for a copy—

(a)

in printed form, £2 for each 1,000 entries (or remaining part of 1,000 entries) covered by the request; and

(b)

in data form, £1 for each 1,000 entries (or remaining part of 1,000 entries) covered by the request,

and, for the purposes of this regulation, a request for a copy of the whole or the same part of the marked register or lists in both printed and data form may be treated as two separate requests.

TOM McCABE

A member of the Scottish Executive

St Andrew’s House,

Edinburgh

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision requiring the proper officer of the Council to supply or disclose information in certain documents that have been used or marked at a local government election and places conditions on the use of information contained in those documents. Breach of those conditions is an offence under section 6 of the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services Act 2006.

Regulation 3 sets out the procedures to be followed in relation to requests from and the supply of marked registers and lists to any person entitled to be supplied with copies of such documents.

Regulation 4 sets out the procedures to be followed in relation to requests from members of the public to inspect those election documents that are open to public inspection.

Regulation 5 provides for the conditions that are to be placed on the supply and disclosure of documents which have been provided under regulations 3 and 4.

Regulation 6 applies a formula to be used to calculate the fees to be charged for the supply of documents under regulation 3. This formula is the same as that set out in the 2001 Regulations used for the sale of the full register.