HL Deb 11 November 1976 vol 377 cc847-8

[Nos.53–54]

Clause 28, page 30, line 15, leave out ("390 and 426(3)") and insert ("and 390")

Clause 28, page 30, line 18, at end inser— ("() Copies or extracts of documents or parts of documents furnished by the registrar of companies under section 426 of the Act of 1948 shall be sealed with a seal prepared under section 424(5) of that Act instead or being certified to be true copies under the hand of the registrar.")

Lord WINTERBOTTOM

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 53 and 54. I should like to include also Amendment No. 62. These Amendments make an alteration to the procedure for authentication of copies or extracts of documents provided by the Registrar under Section 426 of the 1948 Act. They are required as a result of the moving of Companies House to Cardiff and the use by the Registrar of microfiche facilities.

Section 426 requires the Registrar on request to certify that a copy of or extract from any document supplied by him is a true copy and provides that such certified copies shall be admissible in evidence in legal proceedings as having equal validity with the original document. A problem will arise in this connection when the move to Cardiff is complete, in that copies or extracts furnished by the London office will be taken from the set of microfiche records kept there, rather than from the original, since all original documents will be in Cardiff. It will not physically be possible for the Registrar to check that a copy so furnished is a true copy since he will not have the original with which to compare it and it would therefore be wrong to require him to certify that it was a true copy. These Amendments provide that in future each copy shall be authenticated by the seal of the Department to indicate that it is an official copy supplied by the Registrar and that copies so sealed shall have equal validity in legal proceedings. I beg to move.

Moved, That the House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(Lord Winterbottom.)