# The Police Service of Scotland (Conduct) Amendment Regulations 2026, Regulation 4: Interpretation


In regulation 2 (interpretation)—
(a) before the definition of “appeal hearing”, insert—
““accelerated misconduct hearing” means a hearing to which the constable is referred under regulation 23B after the case has been certified as one where special conditions are satisfied,”,
(b) before the definition of “conduct”, insert—
““Commissioner” means the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner,”,
(c) before the definition of “disciplinary action”, insert—
““data subject” has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018,”,
(d) in the definition of “disciplinary action”, after “22(3)”, insert “or regulation 23L(4)”,
(e) after the definition of “disciplinary action”, insert—
““document” means anything in which information of any description is recorded,”,
(f) before the definition of “gross misconduct”, insert—
““First-tier Tribunal” means the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland General Regulatory Chamber,”,
(g) after the definition of “improvement action”, insert—
““informant” means a person who provides information to an investigation on the basis that the person’s identity is not disclosed,”,
(h) in the definition of “misconduct”, after “Behaviour”, insert “that is so serious as to justify disciplinary action”,
(i) for the definition of “misconduct allegation”, substitute—
““misconduct allegation” means any report, allegation, complaint or other information—
(a) whether made or received formally or informally, and
(b) from which it can reasonably be inferred, having regard to—
(i) the substance of that information, and
(ii) any available evidence or surrounding circumstances,
that any conduct of the constable may amount to misconduct or gross misconduct,,”,
(j) after the definition of “misconduct meeting”, insert—
““misconduct pre-hearing” means a pre-hearing arranged under regulation 16A(5) to determine preliminary matters,”,
(k) after the definition of “Performance Regulations”, insert—
““personal data” has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018,
“person conducting the accelerated misconduct hearing” means the constable appointed under regulation 23G(1) to conduct the accelerated misconduct hearing,”,
(l) after the definition of “police representative”, insert—
““presenting officer” means the person appointed under regulation 16C(1),”,
(m) after the definition of “proved”, insert—
““special conditions” has the meaning given by regulation 23B,”,
(n) after the definition of “the constable”, insert—
““the Senior Officers’ Conduct Regulations” means the Police Service of Scotland (Senior Officers) (Conduct) Regulations 2013,”,
(o) before the definition of “working day”, insert—
““trauma-informed practice” is a means of operating that—
(a) recognises that a person may have experienced trauma,
(b) understands the effects which trauma may have on the person, including how trauma may affect any evidence given by the person, and
(c) based on that understanding, involves adapting and implementing processes and practices to—
(i) seek to avoid, or minimise the risk of, exposing the person to any recurrence of past trauma or further trauma,
(ii) seek to avoid, or minimise the risk of, negatively impacting the person’s recovery from trauma,
(iii) enable the person to participate effectively in proceedings,”.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2026/276/regulation/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/police-service-of-scotland-conduct-amendment-regulations-2026/regulation-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.