WITHDRAWAL OF PRIVILEGE AGAINST SELF-INCRIMINATION IN CERTAIN PROCEEDINGS RELATING TO INTELLECTURAL PROPERTY (Hansard, 2 May 1985)

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland

I beg to move amendment No. 14, in page 13, leave out line 26 and insert— '(2A) The proceedings referred to in subsection (2) above include—

(a) proceedings on appeal arising out of these proceedings;
(b) proceedings under section 1(1) of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1972 (provision in relation to the power of the court to order inspection of ducuments and other property etc.) which relate to civil proceedings falling within subsection (2) above which are likely to be brought.'.

Section 1(1) of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1972 empowers the Scottish civil courts to order, if necessary before the commencement of proceedings: the inspection, photographing, preservation, custody and detention of documents and other property about which the court considers that questions may arise in existing civil proceedings, or—this is the point of the amendment—in civil proceedings which are likely to be brought, and to order the production and recovery of such property.

Subsection (2) of claue 15 sets out the civil proceedings to which the clause as a whole is to apply. There is at present no mention there of applications under section 1(1) for a court order in relation to likely future actions. So, if the Scottish court were to grant an order for the production and recovery of goods or materials such as pirate video tapes, because it considered it likley that they would be of relevance in relation to probable future court proceedings for breach of copyright, the execution of the court order might be frustrated because clause 15 did not apply when likely future court proceedings were involved. Consequently, the privilege against self-incrimination would continue to be available. That would clearly be undesirable and the amendment sets out to remove that obstacle.