Electronic communication of authenticated copies of Public Records2

1

Section 9 of the Public Records Act 19582 (legal validity of public records and authenticated copies) shall be amended as follows.

2

The words in subsection (2) from “In this subsection” to the end shall be re-numbered as subsection (4), and in that subsection for “In this subsection the reference” there shall be substituted “In this section any reference”.

3

After subsection (2) there shall be inserted the following subsection:—

3

An electronic copy of or extract from a public record in the Public Record Office which—

a

purports to have been examined and certified as true and authentic by the proper officer; and

b

appears on a website purporting to be one maintained by or on behalf of the Public Record Office,;

shall, when viewed on that website, be admissible as evidence in any proceedings without further or other proof if the original record would have been admissible as evidence in those proceedings.