Post Office Act 1969

2 (1) With reference to any point of time after the beginning of the appointed day, any reference in the provisions of the M1 Post Office Act 1953 (hereafter in this paragraph referred to as the “principal Act”) specified in the following table to the Post Office (except in the expression “an officer of the Post Office”) shall be construed as referring to the authority, and any reference in those provisions to an officer of the Post Office shall be construed as referring to a person engaged in the business of the authority.

Table

Provision	Subject-matter
	F1 . . .
Section 16	Application of customs Acts to postal packets.
Section 22	Issuing money orders with fraudulent intent.
Section 24	Arrangements with other countries as to money orders.
Section 25	Outward bound ships.
Section 26	Inward bound ships and aircraft.
Section 27	Owners’ letters.
Section 28	Retention of postal packets after delivery of part thereof to Post Office.
Section 32	Penalty for opening of mail-bag by master or commander of ship or aircraft.
[F2 Section 33]	[F2 Power to require provision of regular mail-trains.]
[F2 Section 34]	[F2 Additional provisions as to regular mail-trains.]
[F2 Section 38]	[F2 Conveyance of mail-bags by railway otherwise than as part of regular mail-train services.]
[F2 Section 41]	[F2 Offences relating to conveyance of mails by railway.]
[F2 Section 42]	[F2 Conveyance of mail-bags on ships usedby railway undertakers.]
Section 45	Additional provisions as to conveyance of mail-bags by public service vehicles.
Section 53	Unlawfully taking away or opening mail-bags.
Section 55	Fraudulent retention of mail-bag or postal packet.
Section 57	Stealing, embezzlement, destruction, &c., by officer of the Post Office of postal packet.
Section 58	Opening or delaying of postal packets by officers of the Post Office.
Section 65	Obstruction and molestation of officers of the Post Office.
Section 76	Recovery of sums from officers of the Post Office.
Section 79	Surrender of clothing by officer of the Post Office on ceasing to be officer.
Section 90	Prosecution of offences in the Isle of Man.

(2) Section 8(3) of the principal Act (mode of dealing with packets posted in contravention of the Act or of regulations thereunder) shall, as from the appointed day, have effect as if, for the references to regulations made under the Act, there were substituted references to the provisions of a scheme made under section 28 of this Act and as if, for the reference to the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the authority.

(3) As from the appointed day, section 11 of the principal Act (prohibition on sending by post certain articles) shall have effect as if,—

(a) in subsection (1)(a), for the reference to the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the authority, and, for the reference to an officer of the Post Office, there were substituted a reference to a person engaged in the business of the authority; and

(b) in subsection (4), for the reference to detention in the Post Office, there were substituted a reference to detention by the authority and, for the reference to any regulations having effect by virtue of that section, there were substituted a reference to any provisions of a scheme made under section 28 of this Act.

(4) As from the appointed day, subsection (2) of section 16 of the principal Act (application of customs Acts to postal packets) shall have effect with the substitution, for the reference to the Postmaster General, of a reference to the Minister; but the Minister shall not make a recommendation under that subsection to the Treasury except after consultation with the authority.

(5) Duties [F3 (whether of customs or excise) charged on imported goods] or other charges payable in respect of packets to which the said section 16 applies (whether payable to the authority or to any other postal administration) may be recovered by the authority in any court of competent jurisdiction as if they were simple contract debts, and, in any proceedings for the recovery of any charges so payable, a certificate of the authority of the amount thereof shall be evidence (and, in Scotland, sufficient evidence) of that fact.

In the application of this sub-paragraph to Scotland the words “as if they were simple contract debts” shall be omitted.

(6) As from the appointed day, section 17 of the principal Act (power to detain postal packets containing contraband) shall have effect with the substitution, for the reference to the Postmaster General, of a reference to the authority.

(7) As from the appointed day, section 19(1) and (2) of the principal Act (Post Office mark evidence of amount of postage, &c.) shall have effect as if references to the Post Office and the Postmaster General included references to the authority, and section 19(3) of that Act shall have effect as if, for the reference to a certificate signed by or on behalf of the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to a certificate of the authority.

(8) Section 21(3) of the principal Act (protection of bankers collecting postal orders) shall, as from the appointed day, have effect as if, after the words “Postmaster General”, there were inserted the words “or the authority established by section 6 of the Post Office Act 1969”.

(9) References in sections 22 and 23 of the principal Act (issuing money orders with fraudulent intent and forgery and stealing of money orders) to a money order shall, as from the appointed day, be construed as including references to a postal order.

(10) As from the appointed day, section 24 of the principal Act shall have effect as if, for the reference to the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the authority, as if, for the words “money orders”, there were substituted the words “orders for the payment of money” and as if the words “and subject to any prescribed modifications”, the words “within the meaning of those sections” and the proviso were omitted.

[F4 (11) References in sections 50 and 51 of the principal Act (extension of postal facilities and accommodation) to the Postmaster General shall, as from the appointed day, be construed as referring to the authority.]

(12) With reference to any point of time after the beginning of the appointed day, the reference in section 56 of the principal Act (criminal diversion of letters from the addressee) to a person not in the employment of the Postmaster General shall be construed as referring to a person not engaged in the business of the authority.

(13) With reference to any point of time after the beginning of the appointed day, the reference in section 61 of the principal Act (prohibition of affixing placards, notices, &c., on post office letter boxes, &c.) to the Postmaster General shall be construed as referring to the authority.

(14) References in section 62 of the principal Act (prohibition of imitation of post office stamps, envelopes, forms and marks) and section 64 of that Act (prohibition of false notices as to reception of letters, &c.) to the Postmaster General shall, as from the appointed day, be construed as referring to the authority.

(15) As from the appointed day, section 63 of the principal Act (prohibition of fictitious postage stamps) shall have effect as if, in subsection (1), for the words from the beginning to “prescribed”, there were substituted the words “Except for such purposes as may be approved by the Post Office in writing and in accordance with such (if any) conditions as may be attached to the approval, a person shall not”.

(16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F5

(17) As from the appointed day, section 72(1) of the principal Act (evidence of thing being a postal packet) shall have effect as if, for the reference to an article’s having been accepted on behalf of the Postmaster General for transmission by post, there were substituted a reference to its having been accepted on behalf of him or the authority for transmission by post.

(18) As from the appointed day, section 72(3) of the principal Act (application in certain proceedings of section 27(4) of the M2 Theft Act 1968, and evidence of employment of a vessel, vehicle or aircraft by or under the Post Office for the transmission of postal packets under contract) shall have effect as if, for the reference to a vessel, vehicle or aircraft having been at any time employed by or under the Post Office, there were substituted a reference to its having been at any time employed by or under the Post Office or the authority.

(19) As from the appointed day section 78(1) of the principal Act (provisions as to post office letter boxes) shall have effect as if, for the reference to the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the authority; and section 78(2) of that Act shall have effect as if the reference to a certificate signed by or on behalf of the Postmaster General included a reference to a certificate of the authority and, for the reference to the permission or authority of the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the permission or authority of the Postmaster General or the authority.

(20) The reference in section 79(1) of the principal Act to the Postmaster General shall, as from the appointed day, be construed as referring to the authority.

(21) As from the appointed day, the definition of “parcel” in section 87(1) of the principal Act (interpretation) shall have effect as if, for the reference to regulations, there were substituted a reference to the provisions of a scheme made under section 28 of this Act.

(22) As from the appointed day, the definition of “post office letter box” in section 87(1) of the principal Act shall have effect as if, after the words “the Postmaster General”, in both places where they occur, there were inserted the words “or the authority established by section 6 of the Post Office Act 1969”.

(23) As from the appointed day, the reference, in the definition of “the purposes of the Post Office” in section 87(1) of the principal Act, to the execution of any duties for the time being undertaken by the Postmaster General or any of his officers shall be construed as including a reference to the exercise or performance of any powers or duties conferred or imposed by, or by virtue of, this Act on the authority; and any provision to which that definition is relevant (whether contained in the principal Act or any other Act) shall be construed accordingly.

(24) As from the appointed day, the reference in section 87(2)(b) of the principal Act (delivery of postal packet to an officer of the Post Office to be delivery to a post office) to delivery to an officer of the Post Office shall be construed as a reference to delivery to an officer of the Post Office or to a person engaged in the business of the authority.

(25) As from the appointed day, “postage”, in the principal Act, shall, unless the context otherwise requires, mean postage chargeable by the authority.

Textual Amendments

F1 Entry repealed by British Telecommunications Act 1981 (c. 38, SIF 96), Sch. 6 Pt. I

F2 Entries in Sch. 4 para. 2(1) repealed (1.4.1994) by 1993 c. 43, ss. 152(3), Sch. 14; S.I. 1994/571, art. 5

F3 Words substituted by Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c. 2), Sch. 4 para. 12 Table Pt. I

F4 Sch. 4 para. 11 repealed (E.W.S.) by Energy Act 1983 (c. 25, SIF 44:1), Sch. 4 Pt. I

F5 Sch. 4 para. 2(16) repealed by British Telecommunications Act 1981 (c. 38), Sch. 6 Pt. II

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 The text of Sch. 4 paras. 2(8)(10)(15)(22), 14 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.

Marginal Citations

M1 1953 c. 36.

M2 1968 c. 60.