The Act
3.The Act establishes a Scottish Pubs Code to govern the relationship between pub-owning companies and their tied tenants and provides for the appointment of a Scottish Pubs Code Adjudicator to enforce the code. Tied pubs are those which have a contractual obligation to buy alcohol from the business which owns the pub.
4.The Act is in four parts, with 26 sections and two schedules.
5.Part 1 (sections 1-6, schedules 1 and 2) deals with the establishment of the code and the adjudicator, sets out regulatory principles, and provides for ministerial guidance and review. Schedule 1 is concerned with the code, and schedule 2 is concerned with the adjudicator.
6.Part 2 (sections 7-19) gives effect to the code by clarifying contract terms that are inconsistent with the code, specifies the adjudicator’s powers of investigation and enforcement, establishes an arbitration process and provides a means for dealing with avoidance of the code.
7.Part 3 (sections 20-22) deals with definitions of key terms used in the Act.
8.Part 4 (sections 23-26) is concerned with ancillary provision, regulation-making powers, commencement and the short title.
9.The Act is broadly similar to Part 4 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015(1) (“the 2015 Act”) passed by the UK Parliament. That Act, and its subsequent regulations, ensures that some tied pub tenants in England and Wales (those who have tenancies with pub-owning businesses that own 500 or more tied pubs) are covered by a statutory Pubs Code, which is governed by a Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA). The Act creates a similar regime in Scotland, but with some variations.