# The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 (Commencement No. 6) Regulations 2026, Regulation 1: Citation, commencement and interpretation


(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 (Commencement No. 6) Regulations 2026 and come into force on 1 February 2027.
(2) In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015,
“competent authority” has the same meaning as specified in section 9(7) of the Act,
“National Referral Mechanism” means the process by which a competent authority determines whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person is a victim,
“offence of human trafficking” has the same meaning as specified in section 1 of the Act,
“offence of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour” has the same meaning as specified in section 4 of the Act,
“victim” means a victim of the offence of human trafficking or the offence of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2026/129/regulation/1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/human-trafficking-and-exploitation-scotland-act-2015-commencement-no-6-regulations-2026/regulation-1
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.