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The Special Measures for Child Witnesses (Sexual Offences) Regulations 2013

S.I. 2013/2971 · Made 21 November 2013

Original text. legislation.gov.uk does not revise statutory instruments, so later amendments are not shown here. Changes made to it are listed under each provision when known.

Criminal Procedure, England And Wales

Made 21st November 2013

Laid before Parliament 26th November 2013

Coming into force 18th December 2013

The Secretary of State is a Minister designatedf1 for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972f2 in relation to criminal justice.

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by that section.

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

S.I. 2012/2752.

f2

1972 c. 68; section 2(2) was amended by section 27 of the Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c. 51) and Part 1 of the Schedule to the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c. 7).

Contents

  1. 1Citation, commencement and extent
  2. 2Amendments to the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999
  3. Signature
  4. Explanatory note

1Citation, commencement and extent

These Regulations—

(a)

may be cited as the Special Measures for Child Witnesses (Sexual Offences) Regulations 2013;

(b)

come into force on 18th December 2013; and

(c)

extend to England and Wales.

2Amendments to the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999

In section 33 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999f1 (Interpretation etc of Chapter 1)—

(a)

in subsection (5), for “a human trafficking offence” substitute “a relevant offence”; and

(b)

for subsection (6), substitute—

“(6)

In subsection (5) “relevant offence” means—

(a)

a sexual offence;

(b)

an offence under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978f2;

(c)

an offence under section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988f3;

(d)

an offence under section 4 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act 2004f4.”.

Signature

Damian Green

Minister of State

Ministry of Justice

21st November 2013

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

These Regulations are made as part of the implementation in England and Wales of Directive 2011/93/EUf1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA.

Regulation 2 amends the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (c. 23) so that a complainant of a relevant offence whose age is uncertain will be presumed to be under the age of 18 if there are reasons to believe that person is under the age of 18. The effect is that a complainant to whom the presumption applies will be eligible for “special measures” under section 16 of that Act. Special measures are measures intended to assist and protect certain categories of witnesses in the giving of evidence in criminal proceedings. Previously the presumption only applied to a complainant of a human trafficking offence (an offence under section 59A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42) or an offence under section 4 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act 2004 (c. 19)). The presumption will now additionally apply to a complainant of a sexual offence (as defined by section 62 of the 1999 Act) and a complainant of an offence under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978 (c. 37) and a complainant under section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33).

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.