(1) Where it is certified by a registered medical practitioner or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Minister and the Minister for Social Welfare that, for an employee specified in the certificate, the minimum period of maternity leave should for a medical reason so specified commence on a date so specified, and the certificate is produced for inspection by the employer concerned within such period as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this section, the minimum period of maternity leave for that employee shall commence on the date so specified.

(2) Where a certificate under this section is issued and the requirement in subsection (1) relating to the production of the certificate for the employer's inspection is complied with, the employee specified in the certificate -

(a) shall be taken to have informed her employer of her pregnancy (if she had not previously done so); and

(b) shall be deemed to have complied also with section 9(1)(a).