POST OFFICE (EVASION OF POSTAGE) ACT, 1937

Type Act

Publication 1937-03-04

Last updated 2011-08-02

State Repealed superseded text

Text As published

Source Irish Statute Book

articles 6

This is the act as published. Later amendments are not folded into the text below: each one is a separate act in this repository and an entry in this law's history.

2 amending acts · 2011-08-02, Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Act 2011

Reform history JSON API

AN ACT TO PROVIDE AGAINST CERTAIN EVASIONS OF POSTAGE. [4th March, 1937.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs;

the expression “postal packet” has the same meaning as it has in the Post Office Act, 1908.

2 Postal packets to which this Act applies.

2.—(1) Save as is otherwise provided by this section, this Act applies to every postal packet which—

(a) is posted outside Saorstát Eireann, and

(b) is addressed to the addressee at an address in Saorstát Eireann, and

(c) purports to come from or to be sent by or on behalf of a person residing or carrying on business in Saorstát Eireann.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing sub-section of this section, this Act shall not apply to a postal packet which purports to come from or to be sent by or on behalf of a person who carries on business both in and outside Saorstát Eireann unless such postal packet purports to come or be sent only from an address, or all the addresses, of such person in Saorstát Eireann.

3 Evasion of postage on postal packets to which this Act applies.

3.—(1) Whenever the sum equivalent in Saorstát Eireann currency at par to the postage paid on a postal packet to which this Act applies is less than the postage which would have been payable on such postal packet if it had been posted in Saorstát Eireann, the Minister may, at his discretion, either return such postal packet to the country in which it was posted, or charge upon and recover by civil action from the person from whom such postal packet purports to come or by whom or on whose behalf it purports to have been sent the postage which would have been payable on such postal packet if it had been posted in Saorstát Eireann.

(2) Whenever the Minister proposes to charge and recover, under the power conferred by this section, any sum in relation to a postal packet to which this Act applies, the Minister may retain such postal packet until such sum has been paid to or recovered by him.

4 Power of Minister to require returns.

4.—(1) Whenever a postal packet to which this Act applies is discovered by the Minister in course of post, the Minister may by notice in writing require the person from whom such postal packet purports to come or by whom or on whose behalf it purports to be sent to furnish to the Minister within a time (not less than three days from the service of such notice) specified in such notice a return stating—

(a) the place at which such postal packet was posted, and

(b) the name and address of the person by whom such postal packet was posted, and

(c) the number of similar postal packets to which this Act applies which were posted on a date or during a period specified in such notice.

(2) A notice under this section shall be served on the person thereby required to furnish a return and may be so served by sending it by prepaid post addressed to such person at the address or any of the addresses of such person stated in the postal packet to which such notice relates.

(3) If any person who is required by a notice under this section to make a return to the Minister fails to make such return within the time specified in that behalf in such notice or makes in such return a statement which is false or misleading in any material respect, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds.

5 Saving for other statutory powers of the Minister.

5.—Nothing in this Act shall derogate from or prejudice any power vested in the Minister by the Post Office Act, 1908, or any warrant or regulations made thereunder.

6 Short title, citation, and construction.

6.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Post Office (Evasion of Postage) Act, 1937.

(2) The Post Office Acts, 1908 to 1920, and this Act may be cited together as the Post Office Acts, 1908 to 1937.

(3) This Act shall be construed as one with the Post Office Act, 1908.

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