294General evidentiary provisions

294 General evidentiary provisions S. 294(1) amended by No. 34/2023 s. 127(Sch. 1 item 7.162). (1) A certificate in the prescribed form purporting to be issued by Safe Transport Victoria certifying as to any matter that appears in or can be calculated from the records kept by Safe Transport Victoria or a delegate of Safe Transport Victoria is admissible in evidence in any proceedings and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of the matters stated in the certificate. (2) Without limiting any provision of the **Evidence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1958** or the **Evidence Act 2008**, a certificate or document that purports to be issued under any Act of the Commonwealth, or of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth, and that purports to relate in any way to— (a) the registration or non-registration of a vessel; or (b) the person who is the owner of a vessel or in whose name a vessel is registered; or (c) the qualifications of people crewing a vessel; or (d) any other matter relating to the use of vessels— is, for the purposes of this Act, admissible in evidence in any proceedings and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of the matters stated in the certificate. S. 294(3) amended by No. 34/2023 s. 127(Sch. 1 item 7.162). (3) A certificate in the prescribed form purporting to be issued by Safe Transport Victoria certifying that on a particular date a vessel was registered in the name of a particular person is admissible in evidence in any proceedings and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof that on that date that person was the registered person. (4) In any proceedings for a contravention of section 37, proof that a vessel was operated on State waters without having affixed to it any identification number or identifying mark, and any appropriate registration label, required by or under this Act is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof that the vessel was operated in contravention of that section. (5) A certificate in the prescribed form to the effect that a prescribed speed measuring device has been tested or sealed in the prescribed manner, signed or purporting to be signed by a person authorised to do so by the regulations is, without prejudice to any other mode of proof and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof that the device has been so tested or sealed. S. 295 repealed by No. 36/2013 s. 72.