Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts

EVIDENCE ACT 1971 - SECT 15

    (1)     In this section:

"appropriate officer" means—

        (a)     in relation to a document lodged with, or registered or issued by, a government department or public authority—the person having custody of the official records of the department or authority; or

        (b)     in relation to a document lodged with, or registered or issued by, a public official—that official.

"document" means a document that, under a law of the Territory, the Commonwealth, a State or another Territory, has been lodged with, or registered or issued by—

        (a)     a government department; or

        (b)     a public authority; or

        (c)     a public official.

"machine copy" in relation to a document, means a copy, other than a reproduction, of the document made by a photographic or other machine, whether the copy is enlarged or not.

"public official" means—

        (a)     a public servant; or

        (b)     an officer of the Commonwealth, a State, another Territory or a public authority.

"reproduction", in relation to a document, means a print, whether enlarged or not, made from a transparent photograph of a document.

    (2)     If a document would be admissible in evidence in a proceeding, a machine copy or a reproduction of the document is admissible as evidence of the document if—

        (a)     the machine copy or the reproduction of the document bears, or has annexed to it, a certificate purporting to have been signed by the appropriate officer certifying—

              (i)     for a machine copy—that the machine copy of the document was made while the document was in the control or custody of the government department, the public authority or that officer (as the case requires); or

              (ii)     for a reproduction—that the reproduction is a print made from a transparent photograph of the document taken while the document was in the control or custody of the government department, the public authority or that officer (as the case requires); or

        (b)     the machine copy or reproduction of the document bears, or has annexed to it, a copy of such a certificate made at the same time as the machine copy or print of the document was made.

    (3)     This section applies whether or not evidence is given that the document a machine copy or a reproduction of which is produced is or is not still in existence.