Database plan to keep check on all tartans

PROPOSALS for an official database of tartans will be launched at Holyrood later today.

The aim of the Bill is to protect an "iconic" part of Scottish industry by setting up a single register to record and classify the estimated 3000 tartans in existence.

Tory culture and tourism spokesman Jamie McGrigor's Scottish Register of Tartans Bill outlines plans to employ a "keeper" to run the database.

The Highlands and Islands region MSP believes it would not only benefit the tartan industry but also tourism and genealogy in Scotland.

The Bill sets out the application process for registration, a procedure for amending entries, costs, makes provision for publication of the register and for an annual report.

Speaking ahead of the Bill's publication, Mr McGrigor said the Bill would "help protect a hugely important and iconic Scottish industry". Tartans were designed and produced worldwide, but there was no authoritative source for recording their existence on an official basis, he said.