Overview of the Act Part 5: Compatibility Questions and Uncrc Compatibility Issues Section 32: UNCRC compatibility issues in criminal proceedings
126.Section 32 provides the definition of “UNCRC compatibility issues” for this Part (see also section 42(1)). These are questions arising in criminal proceedings as to whether words in legislation to which sections 29 or 30 apply are compatible with the UNCRC requirements or whether a public authority has acted (or proposed to act) in a way which section 6 makes unlawful.
127.This section adds sections 288AB and 288AC to the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to establish a system to allow lower criminal courts to refer UNCRC compatibility questions to the High Court and for the High Court to refer such questions to the Supreme Court. Where an issue is referred to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court may only deal with the UNCRC compatibility issue and must remit the rest of the proceedings to the High Court. These sections allow the Lord Advocate to require a criminal court to refer an issue to a higher court.