### Evidence Ordinance 《證據條例》

19. Official documents
Whenever, by any enactment, any certificate, official or public document, or proceeding of any corporation or joint-stock or other company, or any certified copy of any document, by-law, entry in any register or other book, or of any other proceeding is receivable in evidence of any particular in the court or before the Legislative Council or any committee thereof, the same shall respectively be admitted in evidence, provided they respectively purport to be sealed or impressed with a stamp, or sealed and signed, or signed alone, as required, or impressed with a stamp and signed, as directed by the enactment, without any proof of the seal or stamp where a seal or stamp is necessary, or of the signature or of the official character of the person appearing to have signed the same, and without any further proof thereof, in every case in which the original record could have been received in evidence.
(Amended 51 of 1911; 63 of 1911 Schedule)[cf. 1845 c. 113 s. 1 U.K.]

### Evidence Ordinance 《證據條例》

19A. Certificate in criminal proceedings in respect of foreign documents
(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)
(Added 37 of 1984 s. 4)

### Evidence Ordinance 《證據條例》

19AA. Evidence of signature or fiat, etc.*
Where the fiat, authorization, sanction, consent or authority of the Governor or any other public officer is necessary before any prosecution or action is commenced, or for any purpose whatsoever in connection with any proceeding, any document purporting to bear the fiat, authorization, sanction, consent or authority of the Governor, or such public officer, as the case may be, shall, until the contrary is proved, be received as evidence in any proceeding without proof being given that the signature to such fiat, authorization, sanction, consent or authority is that of the Governor or such public officer.

Editorial Note:
* This provision previously appeared in section 91 of Cap. 1. By 89 of 1993 s. 27, it was re-enacted as s. 19AA of this Ordinance.

19B. Certificate in criminal proceedings of designation of foreign bank
(1) The Financial Secretary may, for the purposes of any criminal proceedings, designate any body formed or established outside Hong Kong which carries on the business of banking outside Hong Kong, and a certificate purporting to be signed by the Financial Secretary and certifying that any such body described therein has been designated by him under this section for the purposes of those proceedings shall, on its production without further proof, be admitted in those proceedings as prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein. (Amended 67 of 1986 s. 2)
(2) The power conferred by subsection (1) may be exercised in respect of any body formed or established outside Hong Kong notwithstanding that it has ceased to carry on the business of banking or is being or has been wound up or dissolved. (Added 67 of 1986 s. 2)
(Added 37 of 1984 s. 4)

19C. Privilege relating to sections 19A and 19B
The Chief Secretary for Administration or the Financial Secretary shall not be compelled to attend as a witness in any criminal proceedings in which a certificate purporting to have been signed by him is tendered in evidence under section 19A or 19B, as the case may be, if the matter in respect of which his attendance is required relates solely to that certificate.
(Added 37 of 1984 s. 4. Amended L.N. 362 of 1997)

### Evidence Ordinance 《證據條例》

20A. Application of section 20 to banks that have ceased business
(1) Section 20 shall apply to a copy of an entry or matter recorded in a record used in the ordinary course of business of a former bank which is tendered in evidence in criminal proceedings as it applies to a copy of an entry or matter recorded in a banker’s record, but with the following modifications—
(a) subsection (1)(a)(ii) thereof shall be construed as if for “the bank” there were substituted “any person duly authorized in that behalf or otherwise responsible for administering the affairs of the former bank”; and
(b) a reference therein to an officer of a bank shall in relation to the former bank be construed as a reference to any person who is, or is an officer of, a person responsible for administering the affairs of the former bank.
(2) Section 20 shall apply to a copy of an entry or matter recorded in a record used in the ordinary course of business of a body designated by the Financial Secretary under section 19B(2) for the purposes of criminal proceedings which is tendered in evidence in those criminal proceedings as it applies to a copy of an entry or matter recorded in a banker’s record, but with the following modifications—
(a) a reference therein to a bank shall be construed as a reference to any person responsible for administering the affairs of that body;
(b) a reference therein to an officer of a bank shall be construed as a reference to any person who is, or is an officer of, a person responsible for administering the affairs of that body.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1) former bank (前有銀行) means a bank which is being or has been wound up or dissolved or has otherwise ceased to carry on business as a bank.
(Added 67 of 1986 s. 4)