The European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2004

[F1 PART 7 N.I. ACCESS TO MARKED REGISTERS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS OPEN TO PUBLIC INSPECTION AFTER AN ELECTION

Textual Amendments

F1 Sch. 1 substituted (27.3.2009) by The European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/813), regs. 1(2), 38, Sch. 1

Interpretation and general N.I.

74.— (1) In this Part—

“Chief Electoral Officer” means the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland;

“edited register” has the same meaning as in regulation 93 of the 2008 Regulations;

“enactment” has the same meaning as in section 17(2) of the Representation of the People Act 2000;

“the full register” means the register published under section 13(1) or (3) of the 1983 Act;

“marked register and lists” means any part of the marked copies of the full register, marked copy notices under section 13BA(9) of the 1983 Act, list of proxies, absent voters list and proxy postal voters list retained by the Chief Electoral Officer under rule 67;

“processor” means any person who provides a service which consists of putting information in data form or processing information in data form and any reference to a processor includes a reference to his employees;

“relevant conditions” has the same meaning as in section 33(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998;

“research purposes” shall be construed in accordance with section 33(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998; and

“2008 Regulations” means the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008.

(2) In this Part, any reference to an employee of any person who has access to a copy of the full register shall be deemed to include a person working or providing services for the purposes of that person or employed by or on behalf of, or working for, any person who is so working or who is supplying such a service.

(3) The processor may not disclose the full register or the information contained in it except to the person who supplied it to the processor or an employee of that person or a person who is entitled to obtain a copy of the full register under the 2008 Regulations or any employee of such a person.

(4) In this Part, any reference to a day that is disregarded shall be interpreted, or any period of days shall be calculated, in accordance with rule 2(1) except the reference in that rule to a “bank holiday” shall mean a bank holiday within the meaning of paragraph (2)(b) of that rule.

(5) Any duty on the Chief Electoral Officer to supply records or lists or make them available for inspection under this Part imposes only a duty to provide that information in the form in which he holds it.

(6) The Chief Electoral Officer may unseal the packets of documents he is required to keep under rule 67 as necessary to comply with his duties under this Part.

Supply of marked registers and lists after a European Parliamentary election N.I.

75.— (1) Any person entitled to be supplied in accordance with regulation 99, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107 or 111 of the 2008 Regulations with copies of the full register at a particular European Parliamentary election is also a person entitled, subject to this rule and rule 78, to request that the Chief Electoral Officer supply copies of the relevant part (within the meaning of those regulations) of the marked register or lists he is required to keep.

(2) A person whose entitlement to request copies of the marked register or lists under paragraph (1) arises from being in a category of persons to whom regulation 102, 104, 105, or 106 applies before a particular European Parliamentary election, shall be entitled to request those documents regardless of whether, after that election, he remains in a category of persons who are entitled under those provisions.

(3) A request under paragraph (1) must be made in writing and must—

(a) specify which of the marked register or lists (or the relevant part of the register or lists) are requested;

(b) state whether a printed copy of the records or lists is requested or a copy in data form; and

(c) state the purpose for which the marked register or lists will be used and why the supply or purchase of a copy of the full register or unmarked lists would not be sufficient to achieve that purpose.

(4) The Chief Electoral Officer must supply a copy of the relevant part of the marked register or lists where a request is duly made, and—

(a) he is satisfied that the requestor needs to see the marks on the marked register or lists in order to achieve the purpose for which they are requested; and

(b) he has received payment of a fee calculated in accordance with rule 78.

(5) If the Chief Electoral Officer is not satisfied in accordance with paragraph (4)(a) he may treat the request for a marked register or a list as a request for information in unmarked lists under regulation 66 of the 2008 Regulations or for the published copy of the full register in accordance with regulation 110 of the 2008 Regulations, or both.

(6) A person who obtains a copy of any part of a marked register or list under this rule may only use it for the permitted purpose specified in rule 77(2), and any conditions—

(a) specified in that rule, or

(b) which would apply to the use of the full register under whichever of regulations 99, 102, 104,105, 106, 107 or 111 of the 2008 Regulations entitled that person to obtain that document,

shall apply to such use.

(7) Any person who has obtained or is entitled to obtain a copy of the marked register or lists under this rule may—

(a) supply a copy of the marked register or lists to a processor for the purpose of processing the information contained therein, or

(b) procure that a processor processes and supplies to them any copy of the information in the marked register or lists which the processor has obtained under this rule,

for use in respect of the purposes for which that person is entitled to obtain such copy or information (as the case may be).

Inspection of documents open to public inspection N.I.

76.— (1) Any person is entitled to request that the Chief Electoral Officer make available for inspection a copy of any of the following documents (referred to in this rule and rule 77 as the “documents open to public inspection”)—

(a) the marked register or lists;

(b) such other documents relating to an election as the Chief Electoral Officer is required by or under any enactment to retain for any period except—

(i) ballot papers,

(ii) completed corresponding number lists, and

(iii) certificates of employment on the day of the election.

(2) A request under paragraph (1) must be made in writing and must specify–

(a) which documents are requested;

(b) the purpose for which the information in any document will be used,

(c) where the request is to inspect the marked register or lists, any reason why inspecting the full register or unmarked lists would not be sufficient to achieve that purpose,

(d) who will inspect the documents,

(e) the date on which they wish to inspect the documents, and

(f) whether they would prefer to inspect the documents in printed or data form.

(3) Subject to paragraph (2) the Chief Electoral Officer must make the documents open to public inspection available for inspection under supervision not later than 10 days after the date of receipt of a request that has been duly made.

(4) If the date on which the requestor wishes to inspect the documents is a day more than 10 days after the date of the receipt of the request, the Chief Electoral Officer must make the documents open to inspection on that date or, if that is a day disregarded by virtue of rule 2, the next day that is not so disregarded.

(5) Where a request has been made to inspect copies of the marked register or lists under paragraph (2) and the Chief Electoral Officer is not satisfied that the purposes of the requestor cannot be met by inspection of the full register, he must inform the requestor—

(a) of his decision under this paragraph, and

(b) provide the requestor with information concerning the availability of the published full register for inspection in accordance with regulation 52 of the 2008 Regulations.

(6) A person who obtains a copy of or information in any document open to public inspection under this rule may use it only for the permitted purposes specified in rule 77, and any conditions—

(a) specified in that rule,

(b) specified in paragraph (8) below, or

(c) which would apply to the use of the full register under regulation 107 of the 2008 Regulations where such a person has obtained a copy of that document under paragraph (9) below,

shall apply to such use.

(7) Where inspection takes place by providing the records or lists on a computer screen or otherwise in data form, the Chief Electoral Officer must ensure the manner in which, and the equipment on which, that copy is provided do not permit any person consulting that copy to—

(a) search it by electronic means by reference to the name of any person; or

(b) copy or transmit any part of that copy by electronic or any other means.

(8) Subject to paragraph (9), a person who inspects a copy of a document open to public inspection, whether in printed copy or in data form, may not—

(a) make copies of any part of it, or

(b) record any particulars in it,

except that a person who inspects a copy of the marked register or lists may make hand written notes.

(9) The Chief Electoral Officer must, on request, supply free of charge copies of any documents open to public inspection to a person who has inspected those documents and who is entitled to be supplied with a copy of the marked register or lists by virtue of being a person to whom regulation 107 of the 2008 Regulations applies.

Conditions on the use, supply and disclosure of documents open to public inspection N.I.

77.— (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the restrictions on the supply, disclosure and use of information in regulations 94 and 95 of the 2008 Regulations shall apply to the documents open to public inspection as they apply to the full register.

(2) Where a person—

(a) obtains copies of information in the marked register or lists in accordance with rule 75(1), or

(b) inspects information in accordance with rule 76(1),

• the permitted purpose means either research purposes or electoral purposes.

(3) Where a copy of any information was supplied in the circumstances to which rule 76(9) applies, the permitted purpose means the purposes set out in regulation 107(3) of the 2008 Regulations.

Fees relating to the marked registers and lists N.I.

78.— (1) The fee to be paid in accordance with rule 75(4)(b) by a person making a request for a copy of the whole or of any part of the marked register or lists is set out in paragraph (2).

(2) The fee shall be—

(a) in printed form, the sum of £10 plus £5 for each 1000 entries (or remaining part of 1000 entries) in the register or lists; and

(b) in data form, the sum of £20 plus £1.50 for each 1000 entries (or remaining part of 1000 entries) in the register or lists.

(3) For the purposes of this rule, a request for a copy of the whole or the same part of the marked register or lists in both a printed and data form may be treated as two separate requests.]