# Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, Section 8: Meaning of “instrument”.

Extent: E+W+N.I.

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, in this Part of this Act “instrument” means—
(a) any document, whether of a formal or informal character;
(b) any stamp issued or sold by a postal operator;
(c) any Inland Revenue stamp; and
(d) any disc, tape, sound track or other device on or in which information is recorded or stored by mechanical, electronic or other means.
(2) A currency note within the meaning of Part II of this Act is not an instrument for the purposes of this Part of this Act.
(3) A mark denoting payment of postage which the a postal operator authorises to be used instead of an adhesive stamp is to be treated for the purposes of this Part of this Act as if it were a stamp issued by the postal operator concerned.
(3A) In this section “postal operator” has the meaning given by section 27 of the Postal Services Act 2011 .
(4) In this Part of this Act “Inland Revenue stamp” means a stamp as defined in section 27 of the Stamp Duties Management Act 1891.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/45/section/8 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/forgery-and-counterfeiting-act-1981/section-8
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.