Proposals to lower the voting age to 16 in the independence referendum have been formally lodged with the Scottish Parliament.
The Bill sets out the franchise for the ballot, due in autumn next year.
Politicians at Holyrood will determine the arrangements, as agreed in Edinburgh last year between Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond.
The Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Bill is deemed necessary to ensure all eligible 16-year-olds will be able to register in a canvass scheduled to run from the end of the year to next spring. If passed, the Bill will give electoral registration officers a duty to collect information and compile regional registers.
The data will not be published beyond a "limited group of people" and will be limited to legislation relating to the referendum. The wider franchise will be the same as for Scottish parliamentary or local government elections.
It will be for British citizens, qualifying Commonwealth citizens, Irish and other EU citizens resident in Scotland. It also covers members of the House of Lords resident in Scotland and service personnel serving in the UK or overseas who are registered to vote in Scotland.
The franchise is not being extended to convicted prisoners in jail. A separate Bill detailing the proposed single-question referendum will be brought forward later this month.
Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "No-one has a bigger stake in the future of our country than today's young people and it is only right that they are able to have a say in the most important vote to be held in Scotland for three centuries. In next year's referendum, Scotland's 16 and 17-year-olds will be given the opportunity to shape their country's path by choosing what type of country they want Scotland to be.
"It is a straight choice. An independent country where we make the big decisions affecting our future here in Scotland or leave our destiny to be determined remotely. It is a choice about the type of country we want Scotland to be and I am confident that young people in Scotland will want to take responsibility for Scotland's future.
"At 16, young people can marry, have children and pay taxes and it is therefore correct that they are given the right to vote on the future of the country in which they live. In modern Scotland, giving the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds is the right thing to do."
