The Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2012

Made: 17th May 2012

Laid before the Scottish Parliament: 21st May 2012

Coming into force: 2nd July 2012

The Scottish Ministers make the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section150(2) and (4) of the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010[^f00001].

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) This Order may be cited as the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (Commencement No.2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2012 and comes into force on 2nd July 2012.

• (2) In this Order—

• “the 2007 Act” means the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007[^f00002]; and

• “the Act” means the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010.

Appointed day

2

The day appointed for the coming into force of the provisions of the Act specified in column1 of the Schedule (the subject matter of which is specified in column 2), in so far as they are not already in force, is 2nd July 2012.

Transitional provision – levies payable by licensed legal services providers

3

• (1) For the purposes of determining the amounts of the annual general levy and the complaints levy which are payable by a licensed provider to the Commission under section 57C of the 2007 Act (as inserted by section 81 of the Act) during the 2012-13 financial year—

• (a) the requirement in section 29(1) of the 2007 Act for the Commission to have had regard to any views expressed in its consultation under subsection (4) is to be construed as a requirement to have had regard to any views expressed in its consultation under sub-paragraph (b);

• (b) the Commission must consult—

• (i) the Scottish Ministers; and

• (ii) each approved regulator and all other bodies that the Scottish Ministers have advised the Commission as having an interest in applying to become approved regulators;

• (c) the Commission must publish—

• (i) the determination as soon as reasonably practicable; and

• (ii) the responses it has received under sub-paragraph (b) within two months of concluding the consultation with the exception of any responses that it has received which are subject to an express request in writing for confidentiality;

• (d) the Commission must, in so far as is reasonably practicable, secure that the amounts of the annual general levy and the complaints levy are reasonably sufficient to cover its anticipated expenditure during the 2012-13 financial year in respect of sections 57A (complaints about licensed providers) and 57B (regulatory complaints) of the 2007 Act;

• (e) section 29(4) to (10) of that Act does not apply.

• (2) In this article, “the annual general levy”, “the complaints levy” and “the Commission” have the meanings given to them in section 46(1) of the 2007 Act.

Transitional provision – levies payable by approved regulators

4

For the purposes of section 80(4) of the Act, where the Commission is determining the amount of the annual levy or complaints levy for the 2012-13 financial year, it is only to be regarded as having consulted each approved regulator where it has consulted each approved regulator and all those other bodies that the Scottish Ministers have indicated to the Commission as having an interest in applying to become approved regulators.

SCHEDULE

Signed

R CUNNINGHAM — Authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers — 17th May 2012

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order brings into force the provisions of Part 2 of, and schedules 1 to 8 to, the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the Act”) in so far as these are not already in force. It also brings into force certain provisions of Part 4 of the Act which are connected with Part 2. The day appointed for the commencement of these provisions is 2nd July 2012.

Article 3 makes transitional provision in relation to the determination of the amounts of the levies payable by licensed legal services providers under section 57C of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007. Section 29(4) to (10) of that Act will not apply for the purposes of determining the levies payable during the 2012-2013 financial year and the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission will, instead, require to fulfil the consultation requirement set out in that Article.

Article 4 makes transitional provision in relation to the determination of the amounts of the levies payable by approved regulators under section 80(4) of the Act for the first time which requires the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission to consult all those bodies that the Scottish Ministers have indicated as having an interest in applying to become approved regulators.

The Act received Royal Assent on 9thNovember 2010. Sections 146 to 150 came into force on the day after that day.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2010 asp 16.

[^f00002]: 2007 asp 5.