Finance Act 2004

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Amendment of section 962 (recovery by sheriff or county registrar) of Principal Act.

84.—Section 962 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after subsection (1):

“(1A) (a) A certificate to be issued by the Collector-General under this section may—

(i) be issued in an electronic or other format, and

(ii) where the certificate is issued in a non-paper format, be reproduced in a paper format by the county registrar or sheriff or by persons authorised by the county registrar or sheriff to do so.

(b) A certificate issued in a non-paper format in accordance with paragraph (a) shall—

(i) constitute a valid certificate for all the purposes of this section,

(ii) be deemed to have been made by the Collector-General, and

(iii) be deemed to have been issued on the date that the Collector-General caused the certificate to issue.

(c) (i) Where a certificate issued by the Collector-General in a non-paper format is reproduced in a paper format in accordance with paragraph (a)(ii) and—

(I) the reproduction contains, or there is appended to it, a note to the effect that it is a copy of a certificate so issued, and

(II) the note contains the signature of the county registrar or sheriff or of the person authorised under paragraph (a)(ii) and the date of such signing, then the copy of the certificate with the note so signed and dated shall, for all purposes, have effect as if it was the certificate itself.

(ii) A signature and date in a note, on a copy of, or appended to, a certificate issued in a non-paper format by the Collector-General, and reproduced in a paper format in accordance with paragraph (a)(ii), that—

(I) in respect of such signature, purports to be that of the county registrar or sheriff or of a person authorised to make a copy, shall be taken until the contrary is shown to be the signature of the county registrar or sheriff or of a person who at the material time was so authorised, and

(II) in respect of such date, shall be taken until the contrary is shown to have been duly dated.

(d) For the purposes of this subsection—

‘electronic’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Electronic Commerce Act 2000 and an ‘electronic certificate’ shall be construed accordingly;

‘issued in a non-paper format’ includes issued by facsimile.”.