Printed Documents Act (Northern Ireland) 1970

1970 CHAPTER 30

An Act to make provision for obtaining information with respect to the printing of certain documents and for related purposes.

[17th December 1970]

1 Provisions in respect of certain printed documents. N.I.

(1) Subject to subsection (3), every person who prints any document which is or is intended to be publicly sold, distributed or displayed shall—

(a) at the time of or within twenty-four hours after printing such document, print or write on at least one copy of such document the name and address of the person for whom or on whose instructions such document was printed; and

(b) retain, for six months from the date on which such document was printed, a copy of such document on which the said name and address is printed or written as aforesaid; and

(c) upon the request of a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary at any reasonable time during the said period of six months, produce for the inspection of such member the said copy of such document so retained as aforesaid; and

(d) at the time of such printing, print his name and the address of his place of business on the front or first or last page of the document.

(2) Every person who acts in contravention of any of the provisions of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary convictionF1 ... to a fine not exceeding[F1 level 4 on the standard scale]F1 or to imprisonment for a term not exceedingF1 ... six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(3) Nothing in subsection (1) applies to any newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication which is printed by the proprietor thereof on his own premises or to any documents which genuinely purport to be any of the following:—

(a) currency notes, bank notes, bills of exchange, promissory notes, cheques, receipts or other financial or commercial documents, including auction bills and bills for the letting of lands;

(b) writs, orders, summonses, warrants, affidavits, and other documents for the purposes of or for use in any lawful court or tribunal;

(c) any document printed by order of a government department, [F2 the Assembly] either House of Parliament or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a Minister of the Crown, or any public officer in the execution of his duties as such or printed by or for the purposes of any local or public authority; or

(d) Christmas cards or cards conveying a greeting or invitation in a lawful form and intended for delivery from one person to another; or

(e) any document which the Minister of Home AffairsF3 may by order made subject to affirmative resolutionF4 declare to be a document to which this section does not apply.

(4) In this section “document” includes a book, a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, as well as a pamphlet, leaflet, circular or advertisement and “printing” includes any mode of representing or reproducing in a document any words, symbols or pictures in any visible form.

F1 1984 NI 3

F2 SI 1973/2163

F3 functions transf. by SI 1973/2163

F4 The order is now subject to negative resolution in UK Parl., SI 1973/2163

2 Citation and commencement. N.I.

(1) This Act may be cited as the Printed Documents Act (Northern Ireland) 1970.

(2) Commencement