The Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2010

[F1 Court orders for production of date of birth lists U.K.

3.— (1) The High Court, a county court or an election court may make an order for the inspection or production of a date of birth list, if satisfied by evidence on oath that the order is required for the purposes of—

(a) instituting or maintaining a prosecution in relation to an election, or

(b) an election petition.

(2) An order under sub-paragraph (1) may be made subject to conditions, including conditions relating to—

(a) the persons who may inspect the list or to whom the list may be produced,

(b) the time of inspection or production, and

(c) the place and mode of inspection or production.

(3) An appeal lies to the High Court from any order of a county court or an election court under sub-paragraph (1).

(4) A power to make an order under sub-paragraph (1)—

(a) in the case of a power of the High Court, may be exercised by any judge of the court otherwise than in open court, and

(b) in the case of a power of a county court, may be exercised in such manner as may be provided by rules of court.

(5) Where an order is made for the production of a date of birth list relating to a specified election, the production of the list in such manner as directed by the order is to be conclusive evidence that the list relates to the specified election.

(6) A third party who has inspected a date of birth list or to whom a date of birth list has been produced pursuant to an order under sub-paragraph (1) may not—

(a) supply the list, or a copy of it, to any person,

(b) disclose any information contained in it, or

(c) make use of any such information,

otherwise than for the purposes of the proceedings in relation to which the order was made.

(7) The restrictions in sub-paragraph (6) apply to a person—

(a) to whom a date of birth list (or copy) has been supplied under that sub-paragraph, or

(b) to whom information in such a list has been disclosed under that sub-paragraph,

as they apply to the third party to whom the list was first supplied.

(8) In this paragraph—

“election court” has the same meaning as in the 1962 Act (see section 72 of that Act);

“third party” means a person other than a person to whom the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland may delegate functions.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Sch. 2A inserted (31.10.2023) by The Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2023 (S.I. 2023/1083), arts. 1(2), 4(3)