The Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1993

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulation)

These Regulations, which come into force on 16 December 1993, replace the regulations which establish industrial tribunals. The Regulations contain, in Schedules 1 to 5, new rules of procedure for proceedings before industrial tribunals which replace the existing rules of procedure. The Regulations apply to proceedings in Scotland.

The rules in the Schedules apply to the following proceedings

Schedule 1—all proceedings other than those to which Schedules 3, 4 and 5 apply or to which separate rules of procedure made under any enactment apply,

Schedule 2—proceedings involving a claim for equal pay for work of equal value under the Equal Pay Act 1970 (the rules in Schedule 2 are complementary to those in Schedule 1 which also applies to these proceedings);

Schedule 3—appeals against assessments to industrial training levy under levy orders made under the Industrial Training Act 1982;

Schedule 4—appeals against improvement notices and prohibition notices served under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974;

Schedule 5—appeals against non-discrimination notices served under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 or the Race Relations Act 1976.

The Regulations and rules incorporate provisions which implement or take account of the following recent provisions of primary legislation—

(a) sections 128(2A), (2B), (2C), (2D), (2E) and (2F) of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 (“the 1978 Act”), inserted by sections 36(1) and (2) of the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 (“the 1993 Act”), which specify when a tribunal is to consist of three persons and when it is to consist of only a chairman;

(b) section 128(6) of the 1978 Act, inserted by sections 36(1) and (3) of the 1993 Act, which enables a Minister of the Crown, on grounds of national security, to direct tribunal proceedings to be heard and determined by the President of Industrial Tribunals (Scotland);

(c) paragraph 1(4A) of Schedule 9 to the 1978 Act (“Schedule 9”), inserted by paragraph 6(a) of Schedule 7 to the 1993 Act, which enables a Minister of the Crown, on grounds of national security, to direct a tribunal to sit in private;

(d) paragraph 1(5A) of Schedule 9, inserted by section 40 of the 1993 Act (restriction of publicity in cases involving sexual misconduct);

(e) paragraph 1A of Schedule 9, inserted by section 20 of the Employment Act 1989 (c. 38), which enables regulations to provide for tribunals to carry out pre-hearing reviews and, on such a review, to require a party to pay a deposit not exceeding £150 as a condition of the party continuing to participate in the proceedings; and

(f) paragraph 1B of Schedule 9, inserted by paragraph 28(c) of Schedule 8 to the 1993 Act, which enables regulations to provide for tribunals to hear and determine issues relating to the entitlement of parties to contest the proceedings before hearing and determining the proceedings as a whole.

In addition, the rules have been modernised and amended to introduce a number of improvements to the procedures contained in the superseded rules.

The Regulations and rules will apply to all proceedings before industrial tribunals as from 16 December 1993, whenever the proceedings were commenced.

The Regulations contain transitional provisions.