80.— (1) Notwithstanding any enactment, other rules of law, or, in the case of a company any provision contained in the memorandum and articles of association of that company, a person to whom a direction is given by the Authority shall take all such measures as are necessary to comply with such direction without delay.

(2) The Minister may prescribe a class of case in which the Authority shall not give a direction unless it has submitted a draft of the direction to him or her for approval prior to being given.

(3) Compliance by a person with a direction does not give rise to a breach of any enactment, other rules of law or, in the case of a company any provision contained in the memorandum and articles of association of that company. No action or other proceedings lie or are maintainable against a person as a result of such compliance.

(4) Section 27 of the Companies Act 1990 does not apply to the Authority in respect of directions.

(5) Where a person fails or refuses to comply with a direction the Authority may apply to the High Court for an order requiring the person to comply with the direction.

(6) Where the Authority gives a direction to a person, the direction shall be addressed to the person and shall be given to the person in one of the following ways—

(a) by delivering it to the person,

(b) by leaving it at the address at which the person carries on business,

(c) by sending it by post in a pre-paid letter addressed to the person at the address at which the person carries on business,

(d) if an address for the giving of a direction has been furnished by the person, by leaving it at, or sending it by pre-paid post addressed to the person to, that address,

(e) by sending it by means of electronic mail or a facsimile machine, to a device or facility for the reception of electronic mail or facsimiles located at the address at which the person carries on business or, if an address for the giving of a direction has been furnished by the person, that address:

Provided that—

(i) the sender’s—

(I) facility for the reception of electronic mail generates a message confirming a receipt of the electronic mail, or

(II) facsimile machine generates a message confirming successful transmission of the total number of pages of the direction,

and

(ii) the direction or reply is also given in one of the other ways mentioned in any of the preceding paragraphs.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6), a company registered under the Companies Acts is deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered offices, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body is deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.

(8) A copy of a direction, which has endorsed on it a certificate purporting to be signed by an officer of the Authority (authorised in that behalf by the Authority) stating that the copy is a true copy of the direction may, without proof of signature of that person, be produced in every court and in all legal proceedings and is evidence, unless the contrary is shown, of the direction.

(9) In this section “direction” means a direction given by the Authority under Part 3.