PROTECTION OF THE SEA (PREVENTION OF POLLUTION FROM SHIPS) ACT 1983 - SECT 31 Evidence of analyst

PROTECTION OF THE SEA (PREVENTION OF POLLUTION FROM SHIPS) ACT 1983 - SECT 31

  (1)   The Authority may, in writing, appoint appropriately qualified persons to be analysts for the purposes of this Act.

  (2)   Subject to subsection   (4), a certificate signed by an analyst appointed under subsection   (1) setting out, in relation to a substance, one or more of the following:

  (a)   when and from whom the substance was received;

  (b)   what labels or other means of identifying the substance accompanied it when it was received;

  (c)   what container the substance was in when it was received;

  (d)   a description of the substance received;

  (e)   that he or she has analysed or examined the substance;

  (f)   the date on which the analysis or examination was carried out;

  (g)   the method used in conducting the analysis or examination;

  (h)   the results of the analysis or examination;

is admissible in any proceeding for an offence against a provision of this Act as prima facie evidence of the matters in the certificate and the correctness of the results of the analysis or examination.

  (3)   For the purposes of this section, a document purporting to be a certificate referred to in subsection   (2) shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be such a certificate.

  (4)   A certificate referred to in subsection   (2) shall not be received in evidence in pursuance of that subsection unless the person charged has been given a copy of the certificate together with reasonable notice of the intention of the prosecution to produce the certificate as evidence in the proceedings.

  (5)   Where, in pursuance of subsection   (2), a certificate of an analyst appointed under subsection   (1) is admitted in evidence, the person charged may require the analyst to be called as a witness for the prosecution and the analyst may be cross - examined as if he or she had given evidence of the matters stated in the certificate.

  (6)   Subsection   (5) does not entitle a person to require an analyst to be called as a witness for the prosecution unless:

  (a)   the prosecutor has been given at least 5 days notice of the person's intention to require the analyst to be so called; or

  (b)   the Court, by order, allows the person to require the analyst to be so called.