Transitional provision

6.—(1) The proper officer of the council must, by 14th January 2013, provide the returning officer with the packets containing the electronic copies of information made under rule 57(1) of Schedule 1 to the 2011 Order in respect of all elections to which article 1(3) applies.

(2) The returning officer must open those packets, scrutinise that information and give public notice of the information required by rule 56(c)(va)(1) of that Schedule no later than 4th February 2013.

(3) For the purposes of this article, rule 59(8)(a) (prohibition of inspection of electronic copy information) of that Schedule is to be ignored.

(4) In scrutinising the information as required by paragraph (2), the returning officer must ensure that the way in which a particular elector has given his or her vote is not ascertained and that the information as to how votes were cast is not amended or deleted.

(5) At the termination of the scrutiny required by paragraph (2) the returning officer must reseal in their packets the electronic copies of that information, return them to the proper officer and cause to be destroyed any other copies made of that information in a manner which ensures that their confidentiality is preserved.

(6) Should it not be possible to comply with the requirements of paragraphs (1) or (2), the returning officer shall give public notice of that fact, and the reason for it, no later than 4th February 2013.

(1)

Rule 56(c)(va) is inserted by article 5 of this Order.