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Friday, December 8, 1972
AMENDING LEGISLATION ON COURT EVIDENCE
Government proposes to amend the existing legislation to make
microfilm reproductions of public documents admissible as evidence in
courts.
Making this proposal possible is the Evidence (Amendment) (No. 2)
Bill 1973 which is published in today's Gazette and which will be introduced
into the Legislative Council soon.
Briefly explaining the purpose of the bill, a Government spokesman
said many Government departments as well as banks have experienced grave
problems in storing their files and papers.
One solution to this problem is to microfilm records which could
then be destroyed.
However, this action can only be safely adopted if doubts as to
the evidential value of microfilms under the law are removed.
At present, a true copy of document which is proved to have been
lost or destroyed is admissible as secondary evidence of the original. But
the spokesman said this is not wholly satisfactory in practice.
"For example, there may be difficulty, after a lapse of time, in
calling evidence to prove destruction of the original or that the copy is a
true copy •
"Where the secondary evidence consists of a microfilm reproduction,
there may be the additional problem of identifying the film."
The bill,
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.