Psychoactive Substances Act 2016

16Further provision about giving notices under sections 13 to 15

(1)This section applies to the giving of notices under sections 13 to 15.

(2)A notice takes effect when it is given.

(3)A notice may be given to a person by—

(a)handing it to the person,

(b)leaving it at the person’s proper address,

(c)sending it by post to the person at that address, or

(d)subject to subsection (9), sending it to the person by electronic means.

(4)A notice to a body corporate may be given to the secretary or clerk of that body.

(5)A notice to a partnership may be given to a partner or a person who has the control or management of the partnership business.

(6)For the purposes of this section and of section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 (service of documents by post) in its application to this section, the proper address of a person is—

(a)in the case of a body corporate or its secretary or clerk, the address of the body’s registered or principal office;

(b)in the case of a partnership, a partner or a person having the control or management of the partnership business, the address of the principal office of the partnership;

(c)in any other case, the person’s last known address.

(7)For the purposes of subsection (6) the principal office of a company registered outside the United Kingdom, or of a partnership carrying on business outside the United Kingdom, is its principal office within the United Kingdom.

(8)If a person has specified an address in the United Kingdom, other than the person’s proper address within the meaning of subsection (6), as the one at which the person or someone on the person’s behalf will accept notices of the same description as a notice under section 13, 14 or 15 (as the case may be), that address is also treated for the purposes of this section and section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 as the person’s proper address.

(9)A notice may be sent to a person by electronic means only if—

(a)the person has indicated that notices of the same description as a notice under section 13, 14 or 15 (as the case may be) may be given to the person by being sent to an electronic address and in an electronic form specified for that purpose, and

(b)the notice is sent to that address in that form.

(10)A notice sent to a person by electronic means is, unless the contrary is proved, to be treated as having been given at 9 am on the working day immediately following the day on which it was sent.

(11)In this section—

• “electronic address” means any number or address used for the purposes of sending or receiving documents or information by electronic means;

• “working day” means a day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 in any part of the United Kingdom.