The Scottish Register of Tartans: fees review

In 2008 the Scottish Parliament passed the Scottish Register of Tartans Act (the Act). The Act established the Scottish Register of Tartans. The Keeper of the Register of Tartans (the Keeper) maintains and oversees the Register and new registrations. The Act:

• created a publicly held and maintained register of tartans
• set up a system for registering new tartan designs
• provided a statutory definition of tartan for the purposes of the Register
• conferred on the Keeper the functions of keeping and maintaining the Register and overseeing the registration of new tartan designs
• provided the Keeper with a power to charge for services provided in relation to the Register, such as registration of new tartans and provision of copy material from the Register.

Registering a tartan does not confer any intellectual property rights such as copyright or design rights. Nor does it affect any existing intellectual property rights.

The purpose of the Register is to promote and preserve information about historic and contemporary tartans from Scotland and the world. The Register fulfils its purpose by acting as a repository for the preservation of tartans and a source of information about tartans.

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) Chief Executive, Alison Byrne, acts as the Keeper. NRS administers and manages the Register, under instruction of the Keeper. The Register was launched on 5 February 2009 and now holds over 10,000 tartans, with around a further 400 registered each year. The public can search the Register through our dedicated website.

The Act gives Scottish Ministers the power to set the fees relating to the Register by way of an order. For example, customers currently pay a fee of £70 to register a new tartan. Scottish Ministers set the fees in 2009 when the Register was first established and have not reviewed them since then.