Evidence Ordinance

(1)
Any document purporting to be signed by the Chief Secretary for Administration
                and certifying that any foreign document attached thereto has been received by him
                in
                connexion
                with any criminal proceedings shall be admitted in evidence in those proceedings
                together with the document attached thereto, on production without further proof, as
                prima facie evidence of the facts contained in such documents.
(Amended
L.N.
                        362 of 1997
)
(2)
In this section
foreign document
(
外地文件
) means a document purporting to
be—
(a)
a true copy or extract
from—
(i)
any record, book or document of a public nature kept or maintained in any place outside Hong Kong; or
(ii)
any document filed in or issued out of an office kept or maintained in any place outside Hong Kong for the purpose (whether the sole purpose or not) of registering companies or business names or the ownership of property; and
(b)
signed and certified as a true copy of or extract from any such record, book or document by a person having custody or control thereof.
(3)
In relation to a document tendered in evidence under this section and purporting to be signed and certified as a true copy of or extract from any record, book or document by a person having custody or control thereof, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that such record, book or document
is—
(a)
a record, book or document of a public nature kept or maintained in a place outside Hong Kong; or
(b)
a document filed in or issued out of an office kept or maintained in a place outside Hong Kong for the purpose of registering companies or business names or the ownership of property,
if there is endorsed on the document a statement purporting to be signed by that person to that effect.
(4)
Unless the court otherwise orders, a document shall not be admitted in evidence under this section unless 14 days’ notice in writing of the intention to tender such document in evidence, together with a copy thereof and of the certificate of the Chief Secretary for Administration in respect thereof, has been
served—
(a)
where the document is tendered by the prosecution, on the defendant (or, if more than one, on each defendant) or his solicitor;
(b)
where the document is tendered by a defendant, on the Secretary for Justice,
but nothing in this subsection shall affect the admissibility of a document in respect of which notice has not been served in accordance with the requirements of this subsection if no person entitled to be so served objects to its being so admitted.
(Amended
L.N. 362 of 1997
)