Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980

54 In section 334 (procedure at first diet, etc.)—

(a) in subsection (1) for the words from " objections " where it first occurs to " stated " there shall be substituted the words " an objection to the competency or relevancy of the complaint or the proceedings or issue a denial that he is the person charged by the police with the offence ; and no such objection or denial shall be allowed to be stated or issued ";

(b) for subsection (2) there shall be substituted the following subsection—

“(2) In the absence of the accused, an objection to the competency or relevancy of a summary complaint or the proceedings thereon may be stated, or a denial that the accused is the person charged by the police with the offence may be issued, by counsel or by a solicitor on his behalf; and where such an objection is stated or denial is issued, the provisions of this Part of this Act shall apply in like manner as if the accused had appeared and stated the objection or issued the denial.”.