Official Secrets Act 1920

5 Registration and regulation of persons carrying on the business of receiving postal packets. U.K.

(1) Every person who carries on, whether alone or in conjunction with any other business, the business of receiving for reward letters, telegrams, or other postal packets for delivery or forwarding to the persons for whom they are intended, shall as soon as may be send to the chief officer of police for the district, for registration by him, notice of the fact together with the address or addresses where the business is carried on, and the chief officer of police shall keep a register of the names and addresses of such persons, and shall, if required by any person who sends such a notice, furnish him on payment of a fee of [F1 38p][F2 37½p] with a certificate of registration, and every person so registered shall from time to time furnish to the chief officer of police notice of any change of address or new address at which the business is carried on, and such other information as may be necessary for maintaining the correctness of the particulars entered in the register.

(2) Every person who carries on such a business as aforesaid shall cause to be entered in a book kept for the purpose the following particulars—

(a) the name and address of every person for whom any postal packet is received, or who has requested that postal packets received may be delivered or forwarded to him;

(b) any instructions that may have been received as to the delivery or forwarding of postal packets;

(c) in the case of every postal packet received, the place from which the postal packet comes, and the date of posting (as shown by the post-mark) and the date of receipt, and the name and address of the sender if shown on the outside of the packet, and, in the case of a registered packet, the date and office of registration and the number of the registered packet;

(d) in the case of every postal packet delivered, the date of delivery and the name and address of the person to whom it is delivered;

(e) in the case of every postal packet forwarded, the name and address to which and the date on which it is forwarded; and shall not deliver a letter to any person until that person has signed a receipt for the same in such book as aforesaid, nor, if that person is not the person to whom the postal packet is addressed, unless there is left with him instructions signed by the last-mentioned person as to the delivery thereof, and shall not forward any postal packet to another address unless there is left with him written instructions to that effect signed by the addressee.

(3) The books so kept and all postal packets received by a person carrying on any such business, and any instructions as to the delivery or forwarding of postal packets received by any such person, shall be kept at all reasonable times open to inspection by any police constable.

(4) If any person contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section, or furnishes any false information or makes any false entry, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act, and shall, for each offence, be liable on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to imprisonment . . . F3 for a term not exceeding one month, or to a fine not exceeding [F4 level 1 on the standard scale], or to both such imprisonment and fine.

(5) Nothing in this section shall apply to postal packets addressed to any office where any newspaper or periodical is published, being postal packets in reply to advertisements appearing in such newspaper or periodical.

(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed as rendering legal anything which would be

[F5 (a) in contravention of the exclusive privilege conferred on the Post Office by section 66(1) of the M1 British Telecommunications Act 1981; or

(b) an offence under section 5 of the Telecommunications Act 1984.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted (E.W.) by S.I. 1970/1954, Sch.

F2 Words substituted (S.) by virtue of S.I. 1968/248, Sch. and Decimal Currency Act 1969 (c. 19), s. 10(1)

F3 Words omitted by virtue of (E.W.) Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), s. 1(2) and (S.) Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 (c. 21), s. 221(2)

F4 Words substituted by virtue of (E.W.) Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), s. 46, (S.) Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 (c. 21), s. 289G and (N.I.) by S.I. 1984/703 (N.I. 3), art. 5

F5 S. 5(6)(a)(b) substituted for words beginning " in contravention of" and ending "1920" by Telecommunications Act 1984 (c. 12, SIF 96), s. 109, Sch. 4 para. 14(2), Sch. 5 para. 45

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 5 excluded by Post Office Act 1969 (c. 48), Sch. 4 para. 21(2)

C2 S. 5 excluded by Telecommunications Act 1984 (c. 12, SIF 96), s. 109, Sch. 4 para. 14(1), Sch. 5 para. 45

C3 Power to amend s. 5(1) conferred by (E.W.) Local Government Act 1966 (c. 42), s. 35(2), Sch. 3 Pt. II and (S.) Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 (c. 51), s. 42(2), Sch. 4 Pt. II

Marginal Citations

M1 1981 c. 38(96).