74.This section requires the Lord Advocate to prepare and publish guidance regarding the use of images of physical evidence by prosecutors acting for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. This guidance must set out firstly, the factors that prosecutors will take into account when deciding whether to produce an image of physical evidence in a criminal trial in reliance on section 279B(1) of the 1995 Act (see paragraph 68 of these Notes), and secondly, in general terms, when an image is so used, the approach of prosecutors to the physical evidence that the image is of.
75.The Lord Advocate may revise this guidance from time to time. Where the Lord Advocate revises the guidance, the revised guidance must also be published.
76.Subsection (6) amends section 281 of the 1995 Act. That section sets out the rules which apply where an autopsy or forensic science report is lodged as a production (for example, setting out a presumption that the body of the person identified in the report is the body of the person identified in the indictment or complaint). Subsection (6) of this section applies these rules equally to an autopsy or forensic science report where the accused has been given an opportunity to see the report in an electronic form.
Interpretation Part 1: Criminal Justice Modernisation Inserted section 279C – Guidance on use of images of physical evidence by prosecutors