This Order commences section 9 of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”) on 1 April 2022.

Section 9 allows a person who is a victim of a sexual offence, to request that any forensic medical examination of them is carried out by a registered medical practitioner of a sex specified by the person.

The Bill for the 2014 Act received Royal Assent on 17 January 2014. The following sections of the 2014 Act came into force on the following day: sections 30 (in part), 31 (in part), 32, 33, 34 and 35.