s 85A Controlled expenditure of third parties: power of Scottish Ministers
(1) The powers under the following provisions of Schedule 8A are exercisable by the Scottish Ministers instead of the Secretary of State, so far as they relate to polls at elections for membership of the Scottish Parliament and local government elections in Scotland — (a) paragraph 3(3) (power to approve a draft code of practice prepared by the Electoral Commission), (b) paragraph 3(7) (power to appoint day when code comes into force), and (c) paragraph 4(1) (power to amend Part 1 of Schedule 8A). (2) For the purposes of the exercise by the Scottish Ministers of the powers mentioned in subsection (1), paragraphs 3 and 4 of Schedule 8A apply— (a) as if any reference to the Secretary of State were a reference to the Scottish Ministers, (b) as if any reference to “each House of Parliament”, “each House”, “either House”, “both Houses” or “Parliament” were a reference to the Scottish Parliament, (c) as if in paragraph 3(9) for the words from “means—” to the end there were substituted “ means the period of 40 days beginning with the day on which the draft is laid before the Scottish Parliament. ” (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a power so far as it relates to circumstances where a limit applies to expenditure in relation to a period determined by reference both to the date of the poll for an election for membership of the Scottish Parliament and to the date of any other election.