Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 1973

Amendment of section 44 of Act of 1968.

7.—Section 44 of the Act of 1968 is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of “be sufficient evidence until the contrary is shown” for “be conclusive evidence”,

(b) by the substitution in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of “facts in relation to which records are required” for “facts obtained from records required”, and

(c) by the insertion after subsection (2) of the following new subsection:

“(3) In a prosecution for an offence under section 49 or 50 of the Principal Act, it shall be presumed until the contrary is shown that a person who took from a person, referred to in section 30 or 33 of this Act as the arrested person, a specimen of the arrested person's blood, or for whom the arrested person provided a specimen of his urine, is a registered medical practitioner.”,

and, accordingly, the said section shall have effect as set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

Provisions relating to evidence.

44.—(1) A certificate expressed to be issued under section 43 (1) shall, without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign the certificate or that that person was the proper person so to sign, be sufficient evidence in any legal proceedings of the matters certified in the certificate, until the contrary is shown.

(2) Where a certificate is expressed to have been issued under section 43 (3), the following provisions shall, without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign the certificate or that that person was the proper person so to sign, apply:

(a) where the certificate states that it has been determined that a specimen of blood contained a specified concentration of alcohol or that a specimen of urine contained a concentration of alcohol equivalent to a specified concentration of alcohol in the blood, the certificate shall, in a prosecution for an offence under section 49 or 50 of the Principal Act, but subject to section 45 (4) of this Act, be sufficient evidence until the contrary is shown that, at the time the specimen was taken or provided, the concentration of alcohol in the blood of the person from whom the specimen was taken or by whom the specimen was provided was the specified concentration of alcohol;

(b) where the certificate states other facts in relation to which records are required to be kept under this Part, it shall be sufficient evidence in any legal proceedings of the correctness of those facts until the contrary is shown.

(3) In a prosecution for an offence under section 49 or 50 of the Principal Act, it shall be presumed until the contrary is shown that a person who took from a person, referred to in section 30 or 33 of this Act as the arrested person, a specimen of the arrested person's blood, or for whom the arrested person provided a specimen of his urine, is a registered medical practitioner.