Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995

154 Proof of official documents

(1) Any letter, minute or other official document issuing from the office or in the custody of any of the departments of state or government in the United Kingdom the production of which in evidence is required in any summary prosecution, and which according to the rules and regulations applicable to such departments may be competently produced, shall when produced be received as prima facie evidence of the matters contained in it without being produced or sworn to by any witness, and a copy thereof bearing to be certified by any person having authority to certify it shall be treated as equivalent to the original, and no proof of the signature of the person certifying such copy, or of his authority to certify it, shall be necessary.

(2) Any order by any of the departments of state or government or any local authority or public body made under powers conferred by any statute, or a print or copy of such order, shall when produced in a summary prosecution be received in evidence of the due making, confirmation, and existence of the order without being sworn to by any witness and without any further or other proof.

(3) Subsection (2) above is without prejudice to any right competent to the accused to challenge any order such as is mentioned in that subsection as being ultra vires of the authority making it or on any other competent ground.

(4) Where an order such as is mentioned in subsection (2) above is referred to in the complaint it shall not be necessary to enter it in the record of the proceedings as a documentary production.

(5) The provisions of this section are in addition to, and not in derogation of, any powers of proving documents conferred by statute, or existing at common law.