Western Australian Current Acts

EVIDENCE ACT 1906 - SECT 73A

73A .         Reproductions admissible (best evidence rule modified)

        (1)         A document that accurately reproduces the contents of another document is admissible in evidence before a court in the same circumstances, and for the same purposes, as that other document, whether or not that other document still exists.

        (2)         In determining whether a particular document accurately reproduces the contents of another, a court is not bound by the rules of evidence and —

            (a)         may rely on its own knowledge of the nature and reliability of the processes by which the reproduction was made; or

            (b)         may make findings based on a certificate in the prescribed form signed by a person with knowledge and experience of the processes by which the reproduction was made; or

            (c)         may make findings based on a certificate in the prescribed form signed by a person who has compared the contents of both documents and found them to be identical; or

            (d)         may act on any other basis it considers appropriate in the circumstances.

        (3)         This section applies to a reproduction made —

            (a)         by an instantaneous process; or

            (b)         by a process in which the contents of a document are recorded by photographic, electronic or other means, and the reproduction is subsequently produced from that record; or

            (c)         by a process prescribed for the purposes of this section; or

            (d)         in any other way.

        (4)         If a reproduction is made by a process referred to in subsection (3)(c), the process shall be presumed to reproduce accurately the contents of the document purportedly reproduced unless the contrary is proved.

        (5)         If so requested by a party to the proceedings, a court shall give reasons for determining that a document is or is not an accurate reproduction.

        (6)         A person who signs a certificate for the purposes of this section knowing it to be false or misleading in any material particular commits an indictable offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for 7 years.

        (7)         This section does not apply to or in respect of a copy of a document if the copy is admissible under another written law.

        [Section 73A inserted: No. 71 of 2000 s. 10.]