31. After section 81 of the 1952 Act, there shall be inserted—
(1) In this Act, or any regulations made under this Act, where a period of time is expressed to begin on, or be reckoned from, a particular day, that day shall not be included in the period.
(2) In this Act, or any regulations made under this Act, where a period of time is expressed to end on, or to be reckoned to, a particular day, that day shall be included in the period.
(3) In this Act, or any regulations made under this Act, where the time limited for the doing of anything expires on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, the time so limited shall extend to and the thing may be done on the first following day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday.
(4) Where any document or notice is received by the Commission or the Appeals Board outside the business hours of the Commission, or as the case may be, the Appeals Board, the document or notice shall be deemed to have been received on the first following day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.
(5) In subsections (3) and (4)—
(a)“business hours” means such hours as may be prescribed for the purposes of this section;
(b)“public holiday” means any day which is prescribed for the purposes of this section.
(6) Subsections (2), (3), (4) and (8) of section 39 of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall not apply to this Act.”.