Video Recordings Act 1984

Miscellaneous and supplementary

16Offences by bodies corporate

(1)Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(2)Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) above shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

17Entry, search and seizure

(1)If a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting—

(a)that an offence under this Act has been or is being committed on any premises, and

(b)that evidence that the offence has been or is being committed is on those premises,

he may issue a warrant under his hand authorising any constable to enter and search the premises within one month from the date of issue of the warrant.

(2)A constable entering or searching any premises in pursuance of a warrant under subsection (1) above may use reasonable force if necessary and may seize anything found there which he has reasonable grounds to believe may be required to be used in evidence in any proceedings for an offence under this Act.

(3)In subsection (1) above—

(a)the reference to a justice of the peace is, in Scotland, a reference to the sheriff or a justice of the peace and, in Northern Ireland, a reference to a resident magistrate, and

(b)the reference to information is, in Scotland, a reference to evidence and, in Northern Ireland, a reference to a complaint.

18Arrest

(1)If a constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a person has committed an offence under this Act, he may require him to give his name and address and, if that person refuses or fails to do so or gives a name and address which the constable reasonably suspects to be false, the constable may arrest him without warrant.

(2)This section does not extend to Scotland.

19Evidence by certificate

(1)In any proceedings in England and Wales or Northern Ireland for an offence under this Act, a certificate purporting to be signed by a person authorised in that behalf by the Secretary of State and stating—

(a)that he has examined—

(i)the record maintained in pursuance of arrangements made by the designated authority, and

(ii)a video work (or part of a video work) contained in a video recording identified by the certificate, and

(b)that the record shows that, on the date specified in the certificate, no classification certificate had been issued in respect of the video work concerned,

shall be admissible as evidence of the fact that, on that day, no classification certificate had been issued in respect of the video work concerned.

(2)A certificate under subsection (1) above may also state—

(a)that the video work concerned differs in such respects as may be specified from another video work examined by the person so authorised and identified by the certificate, and

(b)that the record shows that, on a date specified in the certificate under subsection (1) above, a classification certificate was issued in respect of that other video work;

and, if it does so, shall be admissible as evidence of the fact that the video work concerned differs in those respects from the other video work.

(3)In any proceedings in England and Wales or Northern Ireland for an offence under this Act, a certificate purporting to be signed by a person authorised in that behalf by the Secretary of State and stating—

(a)that he has examined—

(i)the record maintained in pursuance of arrangements made by the designated authority, and

(ii)a video work (or part of a video work) contained in a video recording identified by the certificate, and

(b)that the record shows that, on the date specified in the certificate under this subsection, a classification certificate was issued in respect of the video work concerned and that a document identified by the certificate under this subsection is a copy of the classification certificate so issued,

shall be admissible as evidence of the fact that, on that date, a classification certificate in terms of the document so identified was issued in respect of the video work concerned.

(4)Any document or video recording identified in a certificate tendered in evidence under this section shall be treated as if it had been produced as an exhibit and identified in court by the person signing the certificate.

(5)This section does not make a certificate admissible as evidence in proceedings for an offence unless a copy of the certificate has, not less than seven days before the hearing, been served on the person charged with the offence in one of the following ways—

(a)by delivering it to him or to his solicitor, or

(b)by addressing it to him and leaving it at his usual or last known place of abode or place of business or by addressing it to his solicitor and leaving it at his office, or

(c)by sending it in a registered letter or by the recorded delivery service addressed to him at his usual or last known place of abode or place of business or addressed to his solicitor at his office, or

(d)in the case of a body corporate, by delivering it to the secretary or clerk of the body at its registered or principal office or sending it in a registered letter or by the recorded delivery service addressed to the secretary or clerk of that body at that office.

20Evidence by certificate in Scotland

At the end of Schedule 1 to the [1980 c. 62.] Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 there is added—

21Forfeiture

(1)Where a person is convicted of any offence under this Act, the court may order any video recording—

(a)produced to the court, and

(b)shown to the satisfaction of the court to relate to the offence,

to be forfeited.

(2)The court shall not order any video recording to be forfeited under subsection (1) above if a person claiming to be the owner of it or otherwise interested in it applies to be heard by the court, unless an opportunity has been given to him to show cause why the order should not be made.

(3)References in this section to a video recording include a reference to any spool, case or other thing on or in which the recording is kept.

(4)An order made under subsection (1) above in any proceedings in England and Wales or Northern Ireland shall not take effect until the expiration of the ordinary time within which an appeal may be instituted or, where such an appeal is duly instituted, until the appeal is finally decided or abandoned; and for this purpose—

(a)an application for a case to be stated or for leave to appeal shall be treated as the institution of an appeal; and

(b)where a decision on appeal is subject to a further appeal, the appeal is not finally decided until the expiration of the ordinary time within which a further appeal may be instituted or, where a further appeal is duly instituted, until the further appeal is finally decided or abandoned.

(5)An order made under subsection (1) above in any proceedings in Scotland shall not take effect until the expiration of the time within which, by virtue of any statute, an appeal may be instituted or, where such an appeal is duly instituted, until the appeal is finally disposed of or abandoned; and for this purpose the lodging of an application for a stated case or note of appeal against sentence shall be treated as the institution of an appeal.

22Other interpretation

(1)In this Act—

• " business ", except in section 3(4), includes any activity carried on by a club ; and

• " premises " includes any vehicle, vessel or stall.

(2)For the purposes of this Act, a video recording contains a video work if it contains information by the use of which the whole or a part of the work may be produced; but where a video work includes any extract from another video work, that extract is not to be regarded for the purposes of this subsection as a part of that other work.

(3)Where any alteration is made to a video work in respect of which a classification certificate has been issued, the classification certificate is not to be treated for the purposes of this Act as issued in respect of the altered work.

In this subsection, " alteration " includes addition.

23Short title, commencement and extent

(1)This Act may be cited as the Video Recordings Act 1984.

(2)This Act shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument appoint, and different days may be appointed for different provisions and for different purposes.

(3)This Act extends to Northern Ireland.