The Space Industry (Appeals) Regulations 2021

Statement of truth

15.—(1) This regulation applies where a document is required to contain a statement of truth.

(2) The statement of truth verifying a document must be as follows—

“[I believe][The person on whose behalf the statement is being made believes] that the facts stated in the [name of the document being verified] are true.”.

(3) In a notice of application for permission to appeal or an application for permission to intervene, the statement of truth must be signed by the applicant or its legal representative.

(4) In a notice of appeal, response to the application for permission to appeal, statement of intervention or respondent’s notice, the statement of truth must be signed by the relevant party to the appeal or its legal representative.

(5) Where a document is to be verified on behalf of a body corporate or a partnership the statement of truth must be signed by a person holding a senior position in the body corporate or partnership, and the person making the statement must state the position that person holds.

(6) For the purposes of paragraph (5), the following people hold a senior position—

(a) in a partnership, each of the partners;

(b) in a government department, each member of the senior civil service, but not a person who has been temporarily promoted to the senior civil service;

(c) in the regulator, each person holding an equivalent rank to a person in sub-paragraph (b);

(d) in a body corporate, other than a government department or the regulator—

(i) a director or other member of the management body,

(ii) the treasurer,

(iii) the secretary,

(iv) the chief executive, or

(v) a manager or other officer.

(7) Where a statement of truth is signed by a legal representative—

(a) the statement must refer to the client’s belief and not that of the legal representative;

(b) the legal representative’s signature will be treated by the appeal panel as a statement that—

(i) the client on whose behalf the legal representative has signed has authorised the representative to do so,

(ii) before signing, the representative had explained to the client that in signing the statement of truth the representative would be confirming the client’s belief that the facts stated in the document were true, and

(iii) before signing, the representative had informed the client of the possible consequences to the client if it should subsequently appear that the client did not have an honest belief in the truth of those facts.

(8) Individuals who sign a statement of truth must print their full name clearly below their signature.

(9) Legal representatives who sign a statement of truth must sign it in their own name and not that of their firm or employer.

(10) A person who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth commits an offence.

(11) A person who commits an offence under paragraph (10) is liable—

(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to a fine;

(b) on summary conviction in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;

(c) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine, or both.