Commentary on provisions of Act Section 4: Identification and notification of quashed convictions
Section 4 provides for aspects of the administrative process for identifying which convictions have been quashed by the provisions in Section 1. It also provides that relevant individuals will be notified following the quashing of their convictions. Subsection 4(1) places a duty upon the appropriate authority to take all reasonable steps to identify the convictions to which Section 1 applies and which are therefore quashed by the provisions in Section 1. Such steps may include, but are not limited to, reviewing case data from the Police National Computer, court records, records held by Post Office Limited such as employment records, and CPS data. These steps will identify many of those cases that meet the conditions set out in Section 2.
	Subsection 4(2) sets out the meaning of "the appropriate authority" in this Section. For convictions in England and Wales this refers to the Secretary of State and for those in Northern Ireland this refers to the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland.
	Subsection 4(3) places a duty on the appropriate authority to notify the convicting court of the details of the identified convictions, in order to enable courts to update their records.
	Subsection 4(4) places a duty on the convicting court to update its record of the conviction by removing the record of conviction and substituting a record that the conviction was quashed by this Act. This is similar to the process currently followed by the court of trial following the quashing of a conviction by the Court of Appeal and will enable other records (such as those held on the Police National Computer) to be updated.
	Subsection 4(5) places a further duty on the appropriate authority to notify the relevant persons that their conviction has been quashed. If the person is no longer alive, then reasonable steps should be taken to notify their personal representatives. If it is not possible to notify either the convicted person or, where necessary, their personal representative, then the appropriate authority must take reasonable steps to identify another person whom they consider appropriate to notify, and notify that person. This may be the case, for example, where the relevant person does not wish to be contacted but it is appropriate to contact a relative or friend on his or her behalf.
	Subsection 4(6) places a duty on the appropriate authority to consider representations made by the person to whom the conviction relates, or another person on their behalf, that a person whom the appropriate authority has not yet identified under 4(1) has a conviction for a relevant offence which has been quashed. This will ensure that where an individual’s conviction is not identified by the appropriate authority under 4(1), but the individual believes that their conviction meets the conditions set out in Section 2, the appropriate authority is obliged to consider representations made on behalf of that individual that their conviction so meets the conditions, and should therefore be considered as one to which Section 1 applies. If the appropriate authority, further to considering these representations, identifies that conviction as one to which Section 1 applies, the duties in subsections 4(3), 4(4) and 4(5) apply to that conviction.
	Subsection 4(7) defines what is meant by a ‘convicting court’.