These Regulations bring the remaining provisions of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (“the Act”) into force on 1 April 2019. The Bill for the Act received Royal Assent on 9 March 2018. Sections 13, 15 and 16 came into force the following day. The Act creates a criminal offence for a person to engage in a course of behaviour which is abusive of their partner or ex-partner.

Regulations 4 to 7 make transitional provision. Regulation 4 provides that Part 1 of the Act (the offence as to domestic abuse) will apply to acts done or omissions made on or after the coming into force date, 1 April 2019. Where the offence is committed by a course of conduct, all the conduct must have occurred on or after that date.

Regulation 5 applies to the requirement on the Scottish Ministers under section 14 of the Act to prepare a report on the use of the domestic abuse offence, and the domestic abuse aggravation (under section 1(1)(a) of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016), three years after section 1(1) of the Act comes into force. This regulation ensures the reporting requirement only applies to proceedings commenced on or after the coming into force date.

Regulation 6 provides that paragraphs 1 and 2 of schedule 1 (modification of enactments) on bail in domestic abuse cases only apply to proceedings in respect of offences committed on or after the coming into force date. This confirms that the offence in respect of which bail is sought must have occurred on or after that date.

Regulation 7(1) provides that paragraphs 3 to 11 of schedule 1 only apply to cases where the indictment or complaint is served on or after 1 April 2019. Regulation 7(2) clarifies that if an indictment or complaint is re-served after that date then paragraphs 3 to 11 of schedule 1 apply, but only in respect of any charges contained in the further indictment or complaint.