78.—(1) The Minister shall, within a period of three months commencing on the commencement of this section, establish and maintain a register of licences which shall contain a copy of each licence granted under this Act and such other information as may from time to time be prescribed by regulations.

(2) The register of licences shall be kept at the offices of the Minister and shall be made available for inspection by any person free of charge during normal office hours.

(3) When a request is made for a copy of an entry in the register of licences, the copy shall be provided to the person requesting it on the payment by the person to the Minister of such fee, if any, as may be fixed, not exceeding the reasonable cost of making the copy.

(4) Every document purporting to be a copy of an entry in the register of licences and purporting to be certified by an officer of the Minister as a true copy of the entry shall, without proof of the signature of the person purporting so to certify or that he or she is an officer of the Minister, be received in evidence in any legal proceedings and shall, unless the contrary is shown, be deemed to be a true copy of the entry and be evidence of the terms of the entry.

(5) Evidence of an entry in the register of licences may be given by production of a copy of the entry certified pursuant to this section and it shall not be necessary to produce the register of licences itself.

(6) The Minister may keep the register of licences otherwise than in legible form but so that the register is capable of being used to make a legible copy or reproduction (in this section referred to as a “copy record”) of any entry in the register.

(7) In any proceedings a certificate signed by an officer of the Minister stating that a copy or copy record of an entry in the register has been made in accordance with subsection (6) shall be evidence of the fact of the making of the entry and that the copy or copy record of the entry attached to the certificate is a true copy or reproduction of the entry, until the contrary is shown.

(8) A document purporting to be a certificate under subsection (7) shall be deemed to be that certificate without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign it or that the person was a proper person to so sign, until the contrary is shown.

(9) In any proceedings a copy record may be given in evidence and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated in it, if the court is satisfied as to the reliability of the system used to make the copy record and the original entry on which it was based.