In this section—

• “modification” includes any additions and, as regards modifications of the statutory provisions relating to companies, any modification whether effected by any future Act or by an instrument made after the passing of this Act under an Act whenever passed; and

• “statutory provisions” includes the provisions of any instrument made under an Act.

The F2Authority may, on the application or with the consent of a friendly society, F3by order direct that all or any of the provisions of Part F4V or VI of this Act F5, or any provision of regulations made for the purposes of that Part, shall not apply to the society or shall apply to it with such modifications as may be specified in the F6direction.

F7A direction under this section may be subject to conditions.

F8A direction under this section may be revoked by the F9Authorityat any time; and the F9Authority, may at any time vary any such F10direction on the application or with the consent of the society to which it applies.

The Commission may, on the application or with the consent of a friendly society, direct in relation to any provision of regulations made for the purposes of Part V or VI of this Act that the provision shall not apply to the society, or shall apply to it with such modifications as may be specified in the direction.

A direction under subsection (4) above may be subject to conditions.

A direction under subsection (4) above may be revoked by the Commission at any time; and the Commission may at any time vary any such direction on the application or with the consent of the society to which it applies.

The register kept for the purposes of subsection (7) above shall be available for inspection on reasonable notice by members of the public.

Any member of the public shall be entitled, F20subject to paragraph (2A) below, to be furnished with a copy of all or any of the documents or records kept in the public file of a friendly society.

The Authority may charge a reasonable fee for making the public file available to any person for inspection under subsection (1)(b) above, or for furnishing any person with a copy of any documents or records under subsection (2) above.

The F18Authority may keep in the public file of a registered friendly society any documents relating to a registered branch of the society which correspond to documents relating to the society which it is required to keep on that file.

Subject to subsection (3) below, any provision to which this section applies, whether contained in the constitution of a friendly society or in any contract with a friendly society or otherwise, shall be void.

Section 727 of the M1Companies Act 1985 or Article 675 of the M2Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (each of which empowers the court to grant relief in certain cases of negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust) shall apply in relation to officers and auditors of a friendly society as it applies in relation to officers and auditors of a company.

For the purposes of this section a reference to an officer of a friendly society includes a reference to the appropriate actuary.

Notwithstanding any limitation on the time for the taking of proceedings contained in any enactment, summary proceedings for any offence under this Act may, subject to subsection (2) below, be commenced by the F22Authority at any time within the period of one year beginning with the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the F22Authority to justify a prosecution for the offence, comes to its knowledge.

Nothing in subsection (1) above shall authorise the commencement of proceedings for any offence at a time more than three years after the date on which the offence was committed.

For the purposes of subsection (1) above a certificate, purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the F22Authority, as to the date on which such evidence as is mentioned in that subsection came to its knowledge, shall be conclusive evidence of that date.

In the application of this section to Scotland, in subsection (1) the words “by the F22Authority" shall be omitted and in this section references to the F22Authority shall be read as references to the Lord Advocate.

In the application of this section to Scotland, F23section 136(1) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 shall apply for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of that section.

Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any member of the committee of management, director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of that offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by the members, subsection (1) above shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

Where a partnership is guilty of an offence under this Act, every partner, other than a partner who is proved to have been ignorant of or to have attempted to prevent the commission of the offence, shall also be guilty of that offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Any document bearing the seal or stamp of the Authority shall be received in evidence without further proof.

Any document purporting to have been signed by a person authorised to do so on behalf of the Authority, and every document purporting to be signed by any inspector or public valuer under this Act, shall, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, be received in evidence without proof of the signature.

In subsections (1) and (1A), “document" means any document issued, received or created by the Authority (or, as the case may be, by any inspector or public valuer under this Act) for the purposes of or in connection with this Act.

Any printed document purporting to be a copy of the rules or memorandum of an incorporated friendly society or the rules of a registered friendly society or a registered branch and certified by the secretary or other officer of the society or branch to be a true copy of its rules or memorandum as registered, shall be received in evidence and shall, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, be deemed to be a true copy of its rules or memorandum.

Subject to any other provision of this Act or regulations under it, any record to be kept by a friendly society may be kept in any manner.

Where any such record is not kept by making entries in a bound book, but by some other means, adequate precautions shall be taken for guarding against falsification and facilitating its discovery.

The power in subsection (1) above includes power to keep the record by recording matters otherwise than in legible form so long as the recording is capable of being reproduced in a legible form; and any duty imposed by or under this Act to allow inspection of, or to furnish a copy of, the record or any part of it is to be treated as a duty to allow inspection of, or to furnish, a reproduction of the recording or of the relevant part of it in a legible form.

The F25Treasury may by regulations, make such provision in addition to subsection (3) above as F26they consider appropriate in connection with such records as are kept otherwise than in legible form; and the regulations may make modifications of this Act so far as it relates to the records of friendly societies.

This section has effect in relation to any notice, directions or other document required or authorised by or under any provision of this Act or by the rules of a friendly society to be served on any person other than the F27Authority but subject, in the case of notices or other documents to be given or sent to members of a friendly society, to any provision of its rules.

The Authority may, by directions under this section, make provision with respect to the form of, and the particulars to be included in, any document to be sent to it under this Act or the 1974 Act.

The directions have effect subject to any other provision of or made under this Act.

The Chief Registrar may, by directions under this subsection, make provision with respect to the form of, and the particulars to be included in, any document to be issued or sent by, or to be sent to, the central office under this Act or the 1974 Act.

The Treasury may make regulations providing for fees, of such amounts as may be prescribed in the regulations, to be paid to the Chief Registrar for the inspection, or the furnishing of copies, of any documents in the custody of the central office, or in respect of the exercise by the central office of any of its functions, under this Act or the 1974 Act.

Any amounts received by the Chief Registrar under subsection (2) above shall be applied as an appropriation in aid of money provided by Parliament for the expenses of the Chief Registrar under this Act and the 1974 Act and, in so far as not so applied, shall be paid by the Chief Registrar into the Consolidated Fund.

Subject to any exceptions or conditions prescribed by regulations of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State shall at the request of any person claiming benefit from an incorporated friendly society provide the society for the purposes of the claim with a copy or abstract of any medical certificate relating to that person and supplied by him to the Secretary of State for the purposes of the enactments relating to social security.

Where the Secretary of State furnishes an incorporated friendly society, in connection with a claim for benefit from the society with information relating to a claim or award under those enactments, the expenses incurred in connection with his doing so by the Secretary of State or any other government department shall be treated as expenses in carrying those enactments into effect.

In this section, references to the Secretary of State shall be construed as including references to the Department of Health and Social Services for Northern Ireland.