Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002)Chapter III : Facilitating Electronic TransactionsPart 1 : Legal requirements for data messages15. Admissibility and evidential weight of data messages |
| (1) | In any legal proceedings, the rules of evidence must not be applied so as to deny the admissibility of a data message, in evidence— |
| (a) | on the mere grounds that it is constituted by a data message; or |
| (b) | if it is the best evidence that the person adducing it could reasonably be expected to obtain, on the grounds that it is not in its original form. |
| (2) | Information in the form of a data message must be given due evidential weight. |
| (3) | In assessing the evidential weight of a data message, regard must be had to— |
| (a) | the reliability of the manner in which the data message was generated, stored or communicated; |
| (b) | the reliability of the manner in which the integrity of the data message was maintained; |
| (c) | the manner in which its originator was identified; and |
| (d) | any other relevant factor. |
| (4) | A data message made by a person in the ordinary course of business, or a copy or printout of or an extract from such data message certified to be correct by an officer in the service of such person, is on its mere production in any civil, criminal, administrative or disciplinary proceedings under any law, the rules of a self regulatory organisation or any other law or the common law, admissible in evidence against any person and rebuttable proof of the facts contained in such record, copy, printout or extract. |