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Authorised officer.
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48.—(1) The chief executive of the Office shall appoint such one or more persons, as he or she considers appropriate, to be an authorised officer or authorised officers for the purposes of this Act.
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(2) The chief executive officer of a health board shall, in relation to the functional area of that health board, appoint such one or more persons, as he or she considers appropriate, to be an authorised officer or authorised officers for the purposes of this Act.
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(3) A person appointed to be an authorised officer under this section shall, on his or her appointment, be furnished—
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(a) in the case of a person appointed under subsection (1), by the Office, and
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(b) in the case of a person appointed under subsection (2), by the health board concerned,
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with a warrant of his or her appointment, and when exercising a power conferred by this Act shall, if requested by any person thereby affected, produce such warrant to that person for inspection.
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(4) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of this Act—
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(a) at all reasonable times enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force), subject to subsection (6), any premises at which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that—
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(i) any trade, business or activity connected with the manufacture, processing, disposal, exportation, importation, distribution, sale, storage, packaging or labelling of a tobacco product is or has been carried on, or
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(ii) records relating to such trade, business or activity are kept,
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(b) at all reasonable times enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force) any specified place,
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(c) at such premises inspect and take copies of, any books, records, other documents (including documents stored in non-legible form) or extracts therefrom, which he or she finds in the course of his or her inspection,
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(d) remove any such books, records or documents from such premises and detain them for such period as he or she reasonably considers to be necessary for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act,
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(e) carry out, or have carried out, such examinations, tests, inspections and checks of—
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(i) the premises,
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(ii) any tobacco product or any article or substance used in the manufacture, processing or storage of tobacco products, at the premises, or
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(iii) any equipment, machinery or plant at the premises,
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as he or she reasonably considers to be necessary for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act,
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(f) require any person at the premises or the owner or person in charge of the premises and any person employed there to give to him or her such assistance and information and to produce to him or her such books, documents or other records (and in the case of documents or records stored in non-legible form, produce to him or her a legible reproduction thereof) that are in that person's power or procurement, as he or she may reasonably require for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act,
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(g) take samples of any tobacco product or any article or substance used in the manufacture, processing or storage of tobacco products found at the premises for the purposes of analysis and examination,
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(h) direct that such tobacco products found at the premises as he or she, upon reasonable grounds, believes contravene a provision of this Act not be sold or distributed or moved from the premises, without his or her consent,
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(i) secure for later inspection any premises or part of any premises in which a tobacco product, substance or article is found or ordinarily kept, or records, books or documents are found or ordinarily kept, for such period as may reasonably be necessary for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act, or
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(j) take possession of and remove from the premises for examination and analysis any tobacco product or any substance or article used in the manufacture, processing or storage of tobacco products found there, and detain them for such period as he or she considers reasonably necessary for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act.
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(5) When performing a function under this Act, an authorised officer may, subject to any warrant under subsection (7), be accompanied by such number of authorised officers or members of the Garda Síochána as he or she considers appropriate.
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(6) An authorised officer shall not enter a dwelling, other than—
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(a) with the consent of the occupier, or
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(b) in accordance with a warrant issued under subsection (7).
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(7) On the application of an authorised officer, a judge of the District Court may, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that—
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(a) a tobacco product or any substance or article used in the manufacture, processing or storage of a tobacco product is to be found in any dwelling, or is being or has been subjected to any process or stored in any dwelling,
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(b) books, records or other documents (including documents stored in non-legible form) referred to in subsection (4)(a)(ii) are being stored or kept in any dwelling, or
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(c) a dwelling is occupied in whole or in part by an undertaking engaged in any trade, business or activity referred to in subsection (4)(a)(i),
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issue a warrant authorising a named authorised officer accompanied by such other authorised officers or members of the Garda Síochána as may be necessary, at any time or times, within one month of the date of issue of the warrant, to enter the dwelling and perform the functions of an authorised officer under paragraphs (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i) and (j) of subsection (4).
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(8) Any person who obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer or a member of the Garda Síochána in the course of exercising a power conferred on him or her by this Act or a warrant under subsection (7) or impedes the exercise by the officer or member, as the case may be, of such power or fails or refuses to comply with a request or requirement of, or to answer a question asked by, the officer or member pursuant to this section, or in purported compliance with such request or requirement or in answer to such question gives information to the officer or member that he or she knows to be false or misleading in any material respect, shall be guilty of an offence.
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(9) Where an authorised officer, upon reasonable grounds, believes that a person has committed an offence under this Act he or she may require that person to provide him or her with his or her name and the address at which he or she ordinarily resides.
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(10) A person who falsely represents himself or herself to be an authorised officer shall be guilty of an offence.
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(11) In this section—
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“premises” means any place, ship or other vessel, aircraft, railway wagon or other vehicle, and includes a container used to transport tobacco products or any article or substance used in the manufacture, processing or storage of tobacco products;
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“record” includes, in addition to a record in writing—
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(a) a disc, tape, sound-track or other device in which information, sounds or signals are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being reproduced in legible or audible form,
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(b) a film, tape or other device in which visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being reproduced in visual form, and
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(c) a photograph,
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and any reference to a copy of a record includes—
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(i) in the case of a record to which paragraph (a) applies, a transcript of the sounds or signals embodied therein,
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(ii) in the case of a record to which paragraph (b) applies, a still reproduction of the images embodied therein, and
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(iii) in the case of a record to which paragraphs (a) and (b) apply, such a transcript together with such a still reproduction.
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