47.—(1) A notice or other document required or authorised to be served for the purposes of this Order may be served—
(a)by post;
(b)by delivering it to the person on whom it is to be served or to whom it is to be given or supplied; or
(c)with the consent of the recipient and subject to paragraphs (6) to (8), by electronic transmission.
(2) Where the person on whom a notice or other document to be served for the purposes of this Order is a body corporate, the notice or document is duly served if it is served on the secretary or clerk of that body.
(3) For the purposes of section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978(1) (references to service by post) as it applies for the purposes of this article, the proper address of any person in relation to the service on that person of a notice or document under paragraph (1) is, if that person has given an address for service, that address and otherwise—
(a)in the case of the secretary of clerk of that body corporate, the registered or principal office of that body; and
(b)in any other case, the last known address of that person at that time of service.
(4) Where for the purposes of this Order a notice or other document is required or authorised to be served on a person as having an interest in, or as the occupier of, land and the name or address of that person cannot be ascertained after reasonable enquiry, the notice may be served by—
(a)addressing it to that person by the description of “owner”, or as the case may be “occupier” of the land (describing it); and
(b)either leaving it in the hands of the person who is or appears to be resident or employed on the land or leaving it conspicuously affixed to some building or object on or near the land.
(5) Where a notice or other document required to be served or sent for the purposes of this Order is served or sent by electronic transmission the requirement is to be taken to be fulfilled only where—
(a)the recipient of the notice or other document to be transmitted has given consent to the use of electronic transmission in writing or by electronic transmission;
(b)the notice or document is capable of being accessed by the recipient;
(c)the notice or document is legible in all material respects; and
(d)in a form sufficiently permanent to be used for subsequent reference.
(6) Where the recipient of a notice or other document served or sent by electronic transmission notifies the sender within seven days of receipt that the recipient requires a paper copy of all or any part of that notice or other document the sender must provide such a copy as soon as reasonably practicable.
(7) Any consent to the use of an electronic transmission by a person may be revoked by that person in accordance with paragraph (8).
(8) Where a person is no longer willing to accept the use of electronic transmission for any of the purposes of this Order—
(a)that person must give notice in writing or by electronic transmission revoking any consent given by that person for that purpose; and
(b)such revocation is final and takes effect on a date specified by the person in the notice but that date must not be less than seven days after the date on which the notice is given.
(9) This article does not exclude the employment of any method of service not expressly provided for by it.
(10) In this article “legible in all material respects” means that the information contained in the notice or document is available to that person to no lesser extent than it would be if served, given or supplied by means of a notice or document in printed form.
Commencement Information
I1Art. 47 in force at 3.8.2023, see art. 1
1978 c. 30. Section 7 was amended by paragraph 19 of Schedule 10 to the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (c. 27).