1973-HKRS28-16-21_Part01 — Page 14

Prints from

Elms of Government documents,

2

(2) On the production of a print under sub- section (1) the court before which it is produced shall, until the contrary is proved, presume-

(a) that a certificate purporting to be signed by the public officer or person having custody of the film has been signed by him; and

(b) that the print to which the certificate refers has been made from a film of the public document.

n

34. (3) A print, whether enlarged or not, pur- porting to be made from a film of a document in the possession of the Government or an authorized person shall be admitted in evidence in any criminal or civil proceedings before any court on its produc- tion, upon proof that—

(a) while the document was in the custody or control of the Government or authorized person the film was taken in order to keep a permanent record thereof; and

(b) the document photographed—

(i) was subsequently destroyed, whelber deliberately or otherwise:

(ii) was so damaged as to be wholly or partly indecipherable;

(iii) was lost; or

(iv) had passed out of the custody or control of the Government or authorized person.

(2) Proof-

(0) that a print is made from a film of a document in the possession of the GoverTI- ment or an authorized person; and

(b) of compliance with the conditions in sub-

section (1).

may be given in respect of any document or groups of documents by a public officer, by an employee of an authorized person or by an authorized person. orally or by a certificate purporting to be signed by such public officer, employee or person.

Interpre- tation.

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(3) A certificate under subsection (2) shall be admitted in evidence in any criminal or civil pro- ceedings before any court on its production without further proof.

(4) On the production of a certificate under subsection (3) the court before which it is produced shall, until the contrary is proved. presume-

(a) that the facts stated in the certificate relating to the print and the compliance with the conditions in subsection (1) are True; and

(b) that the certificate purporting to be signed by a public officer, an employee of an authorized person or an authorized person has been signed by him.

(5) The Governor may, by order published in the Gazette, declare any person or class of persons to be authorized persons for the purposes of this section.

34A. In sections 33 and 34, unless the context otherwise requires-

"authorized person" means---

(a) a bank;

(6) a company authorized by any Ordinance to administer the estates of deceased persons

or trust estates; and

(e) any person declared by the Governor to be

an authorized person under section 34(5);

"film" includes a photographic plate, microfilm and

machine-copy:

"machine-copy" means a copy made of a document

by any machine whereby an image of the contents of the document is reproduced from surface contact with the document or by the use of photo-sensitive material other than trans- parent photographic film,

"photograph" and "photographic copy" include a

machine-copy.

"public document" means any document to which

the public have a right of access.".