{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/scottish-parliament-elections-etc-order-2002/article-58",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/scottish-parliament-elections-etc-order-2002/article-58.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2002/2779",
  "legislation_title": "The Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2002",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/scottish-parliament-elections-etc-order-2002",
  "path": "article/58",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "58",
  "heading": "Right to send election address post free",
  "text": "(1) At a Scottish parliamentary election–\n(a) each candidate, for return as a constituency member;\n(b) each individual candidate for return as a regional member;\n(c) the nominating officer of each registered political party which has submitted a regional list,\nis entitled, to send free of any charge for postage which would otherwise be made by a universal service provider either–\n(i) one unaddressed postal communication, containing matter relating to the election only and not exceeding 60 grams in weight, to each place in the constituency or, in the case of an individual candidate for return as a regional member or a nominating officer of a registered party submitting a regional list for a particular region, each place in the region, which, in accordance with such reasonable terms and conditions as the universal postal service provider constitutes a delivery point for the purposes of this article; or\n(ii) one such postal communication addressed to each elector.\n(2) Any such candidate or, as the case may be, party’s nominating officer is also, subject as mentioned in paragraph (1) above, entitled to send free of any such charge for postage as mentioned above to each person entered in the list of proxies for the election one such communication as mentioned in paragraph (1) above for each appointment in respect of which that person is so entered.\n(3) A person shall not be deemed to be a candidate for return as a constituency member or to be an individual candidate for return as a regional member for the purposes of this article unless he is shown as standing nominated in the statement of persons nominated but until publication of that statement any person who declares himself to be such a candidate shall be entitled to exercise the right of free postage conferred by this article if he gives such security as may be required by the universal service provider concerned for the payment of postage should he not be shown as standing nominated as mentioned above.\n(4) A registered party shall not be deemed to have submitted a regional list for the purposes of this article unless that party is shown as standing nominated in the statement published under rule 20 of the Scottish Parliamentary Election Rules but until the publication of that statement the nominating officer of a party which has submitted a regional list shall be entitled to exercise the right of free postage conferred by this article if he gives such security as may be required by the universal service provider should the party not be shown as standing nominated as mentioned above.\n(5) For the purposes of this article, “elector” means a person–\n(a) who is registered in the register of electors for the constituency or region on the last day for publication of notice of the election; and\n(b) includes a person then shown in that register as below voting age if (but only if) it appears from the register that he will be of voting age on the day fixed for the poll,\n(6) In this article “universal service provider” has the same meaning as in the Postal Services Act 2000.\n(7) If the area of a regional returning officer is situated in the area of more than one official designated by a universal postal service provider, the controlling designated official shall be determined by that regional returning officer.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "2000 c. 26."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2779/article/58",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T06:40:32.730428+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}