General provisions as to registration
12Preparation of register
(1)Electoral registration regulations shall provide for securing the compilation and publication by registration officers of a register -as and when required by this. Part of this Act, and may apply any of the registration rules set out in the First Schedule to the principal Act subject to any modifications made by the regulations.
(2)Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing subsection, electoral registration regulations shall, subject to the provisions of the next following subsection, provide—
(a)for the publication, after the qualifying date for an election and before the register comes into force, of lists of persons who appear to the registration officer to be qualified to be registered in the civilian residence register and business premises register for the election; and
(b)for the determination by the registration officer of claims and objections with respect to the said lists.
(3)As soon as the Secretary of State is satisfied that sufficient staff and printing facilities are available for the operation of the following provisions, electoral registration regulations shall provide—
(a)as respects the civilian residence and service registers (subject to the provisions of the regulations)—
(i)for the publication in each constituency on a date specified in the regulations of lists of persons who appear to the registration officer to be qualified to be registered if an election were initiated in the constituency on that date; and
(ii)for the periodical revision of the said lists and for the preparation and publication after any revision of supplementary lists showing the changes made at that revision ;
(b)as respects the business premises register (subject as aforesaid)—
(i)for the making of annual applications to be registered for any election initiated during the twelve months beginning with such date in each year as may be prescribed; and
(ii)for the substitution accordingly of such date in each year as may be prescribed as the qualifying date for such an election, instead of the date mentioned in section one of this Act; and
(iii)for the annual preparation and publication in each constituency of a list of persons, who having made such, applications, appear to the registration officer to be qualified to be so registered; and
(c)for the determination by the registration officer of claims and objections with respect to each of the said lists ;
and shall accordingly provide for the revocation of the provisions included in the regulations by virtue of the last foregoing subsection.
(4)No appeal shall lie from the determination of a registration officer of any claim or objection made with respect to any list published in pursuance of subsection (2) of this section, but, as respects claims and objections made with respect to any list published in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section, an appeal shall lie from the determination of the registration officer in accordance with the provisions of section fourteen of the principal Act, subject to any modifications made by the regulations.
13Registration officers
(1)Sections twelve, sixteen and forty-five of the principal Act (which defines registration officers and their areas) shall apply for the purposes of the registration of electors under this Part of this Act as they apply for the purposes of such registration under that Act.
(2)It shall be the duty of the registration officer for any constituency—
(a)in accordance with this Part of this Act and electoral registration regulations, to compile and publish the register required for any election in the constituency, and to place, or cause to be placed, on the register the names of those entitled to be registered; and
(b)to perform such duties as may be imposed upon him for the purposes of this Part of this Act by national registration regulations; and
(c)to comply with any general or special instructions which may be given by the Secretary of State with respect to the arrangements to be made by him for carrying out his duties under this Part of this Act, electoral registration regulations and national registration regulations.
(3)For the purposes of this Part of this Act, the proper officer of the council of a county borough or county district shall be the town clerk or the clerk of the council, and it shall be the duty of every such council to provide their proper officer with such staff as he may require for the discharge of his duties under this Part of this Act and national registration regulations made by virtue thereof.
(4)Without prejudice to any power of a registration officer to appoint a deputy,—
(a)all or any of his functions under this Part of this Act or electoral registration regulations in connection with the preparation and publication of any electors list or of any supplementary list; and
(b)all or any of the duties imposed on him for the purposes of this Part of this Act by national registration regulations;
may, if he so desires, be performed in relation to any county borough or county district or any part thereof through the proper officer of the council thereof; and it shall be the duty of that officer, on being requested so to do by the registration officer,—
(i)to perform any such functions or duties as aforesaid in relation to the borough or district or the part thereof specified in the request;
(ii)whether or not he is performing any such functions or duties, to give to the registration officer such information as the registration officer may reasonably require from him for the purposes of this Part of this Act;
as well as to perform such duties as may be imposed upon him for the purposes of this Part of this Act by national registration regulations.
(5)If, without reasonable excuse, a registration officer or the proper officer of a council fails to perform any of his duties under this Part of this Act or electoral registration regulations or national registration regulations, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.
14Expenses of registration
(1)Any expenses incurred for the purposes of this Part of this Act by the Registrar-General of births, deaths and marriages in England or the Registrar-General of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.
(2)There shall be paid to a registration officer out of moneys provided by Parliament—
(a)such expenses in the performance of his duties under this Part of this Act, electoral registration regulations and national registration regulations made by virtue of this Part of this Act as may be properly incurred by him in accordance with arrangements approved by the Treasury;
(b)such charges as may be approved by the Treasury for his own trouble, care and attention in the performance of those duties; and
(c)any costs properly incurred by him as party to an appeal against his determination of any claim or objection with respect to an electors list.
(3)There shall be paid to the proper officer of the council of a county borough or county district any expenses properly incurred by him in the performance of his duties under this Part of this Act or national registration regulations made by virtue of this Part of this Act, including reasonable charges for his own trouble, care and attention in the performance of those duties, and for the remuneration and expenses of any staff provided by the council, and expenses so incurred by the proper officer shall for the purposes of this section—
(a)in so far as they have been incurred in the performance of his duties under national registration regulations, be treated as having been incurred for the purposes of this Part of this Act by the Registrar-General of births, deaths and marriages in England; and
(b)in so far as they have been incurred in the performance of other duties, be treated as having been incurred in the performance of his duties under this Part of this Act by the registration officer at whose request the duties were performed.
(4)Any fees or other sums received by a registration officer in respect of his duties as such an officer, other than sums paid to that officer in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this section, shall be accounted for by that officer to the Treasury in such manner as the Treasury may direct and paid into the Exchequer.
15Penalty for false declarations, etc.
(1)Any person who—
(a)makes either—
(i)an application to be registered in the business premises register; or
(ii)a service declaration; or
(iii)a declaration required for the purpose of becoming registered in the National Register as a person engaged in war work abroad;
knowing that the application or declaration contains a statement which is false; or
(b)attests a service declaration knowing that he is not authorised to do so or that it contains a false statement as to the service number or other prescribed particulars of the identity of the declarant; or
(c)signs a certificate for the purposes of this Part of this Act that a person is engaged in work of national importance outside the United Kingdom (whether ashore or afloat) in connection with any war in which His Majesty may be engaged, knowing that he is not authorised by a government department to do so;
shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and such imprisonment, or on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.
(2)Section thirty-eight of the principal Act (which relates to offences under that Act committed out of the United Kingdom) shall apply to offences under this section as it applies to offences under that Act.