The Court of Appeal held that reg 23(d) of the SOP Regulations, in referring to the time an electronic communication is received 'in accordance with' s 14 of the Electronic Transactions Act, applies only the statutory rules in s 14(1)(a) and (b) — being when the communication becomes capable of being retrieved — and does not incorporate the chapeau exception permitting parties to agree on a different time of receipt. Consequently, a contractual clause deeming communications received after 5pm or on non-business days to be received at 9am on the next business day does not alter the statutory time of receipt for SOP Act payment claims. The Court observed, without deciding, that it had doubts about Martinus's submission that the regulation-making power under s 113(4) could not authorise a regulation deeming receipt on the next business day, and left unresolved whether cl 47.4 of the contract constituted an agreement about receipt of statutory (as opposed to contractual) payment claims.
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