Scottish Government

The Law on Pornography

Pornography is not currently defined in statute law, but the sale and publication of obscene material is prohibited by section 51 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 while the display of indecent material is strictly controlled by the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981.

Child abuse images

The sale, publication and possession of indecent images of children under the age of 18 is prohibited by Section 52 and Section 52A of the 1982 Act (as amended by the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005).

Changes to the Law

The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 contains provisions which criminalise possession of extreme pornography which came into force on 28 March 2011.

Proposals to tighten the law on computer generated images of child abuse were consulted on in 2007 by the Scottish Government (then the Scottish Executive) and the UK Government.