A civil partnership between persons of the same sex may be registered by and only by—
a person who is—
a celebrant of a religious or belief body prescribed by regulations made by the Scottish Ministers, or who, not being a celebrant, is recognised by a religious or belief body so prescribed as entitled to register civil partnerships between persons of the same sex on its behalf,
registered under section 94B to register civil partnerships between persons of the same sex, or
temporarily authorised under section 94E to register civil partnerships between persons of the same sex, or
a person who is a district registrar or assistant registrar appointed under section 87.
The Scottish Ministers may prescribe a religious or belief body under subsection (1)(a)(i) only if—
the body requests them to do so, and
the Scottish Ministers are satisfied that the body meets the qualifying requirements.
A civil partnership between persons of different sexes may be registered by and only by—
a person who is—
a celebrant of a religious or belief body prescribed by regulations made by the Scottish Ministers, or who, not being a celebrant, is recognised by a religious or belief body so prescribed as entitled to register civil partnerships between persons of different sexes on its behalf,
registered under section 94B to register civil partnerships between persons of different sexes, or
temporarily authorised under section 94E to register civil partnerships between persons of different sexes, or
a person who is a district registrar or assistant registrar appointed under section 87.
The Scottish Ministers may prescribe a religious or belief body under subsection (2A)(a)(i) only if—
the body requests them to do so, and
the Scottish Ministers are satisfied that the body meets the qualifying requirements.
For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in subsection (1)(a) , (2)(a), (2A)(a) or (2B)(a)—
imposes a duty on any religious or belief body to make a request referred to in subsection (2)(a) or subsection (2B)(a),
imposes a duty on any such body to nominate under section 94B any of its members to be registered as empowered to register civil partnerships between persons of the same sex or between persons of different sexes,
imposes a duty on any person to apply for temporary authorisation under section 94E to register civil partnerships between persons of the same sex or between persons of different sexes,
imposes a duty on any person who is an approved celebrant in relation to civil partnerships to register civil partnerships between persons of the same sex or between persons of different sexes.
In this Part—
any such person as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (2A)(a) is referred to as an “approved celebrant”,
a civil partnership registered by an approved celebrant is referred to as a “religious or belief civil partnership”,
a civil partnership registered by an authorised registrar is referred to as a “civil registration”.
In subsection (2)(b), the “qualifying requirements” are such requirements as may be set out in regulations made by the Scottish Ministers.