Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Amendment) Act 2009
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Amendment of section 6 (powers of authorised officers) of Act of 1996. |
34.— In addition to the amendment provided for by section 29 (1) and Schedule 2 , section 6 of the Act of 1996 is amended— | |
(a) by substituting the following for subsection (2): | ||
“(2) An authorised officer may at any reasonable time enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force) any vehicle, place or premises, and board any vessel, aircraft or offshore installation and, while there and for the purposes of this Act may— | ||
(a) carry out any inspection and examination which the officer reasonably considers necessary for those purposes, | ||
(b) require the person in charge to either or both— | ||
(i) be present during the inspection and examination and to furnish such information, and | ||
(ii) procure the attendance of any other person who is within the power of the person in charge to procure, | ||
as the officer may reasonably require for the purposes of this Act, | ||
(c) require any employee present at that vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation to afford the officer such facilities within that employee’s power as the officer may require for the purposes of exercising functions under this Act, | ||
(d) open or cause to be opened any container, | ||
(e) examine (by the carrying out of tests or otherwise) and take samples of any material or substance, | ||
(f) carry out, or have carried out, such tests, examinations, analyses, inspections and checks of— | ||
(i) that vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation, or | ||
(ii) any relevant thing at that vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation, | ||
as the authorised officer reasonably considers being necessary for the purpose of exercising functions under this Act, | ||
(g) require any person at, or the owner or other person in charge of, that vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation to give the authorised officer such assistance and information and to produce to that officer such documents or other records (and in the case of documents or records stored in non-legible form, produce to that officer a legible reproduction thereof) that are in that person’s power or control, as that officer may reasonably require for the purpose of exercising functions under this Act, | ||
(h) inspect, examine and take copies of, or extracts from, any such document or other record and require the person by whom any such document is kept or who produced the document to certify a copy of that document or other record (including a copy in a legible form of a record kept in an non-legible form) as a true copy, | ||
(i) except where— | ||
(i) the document or other record concerned is required by law to be kept or maintained at the vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation concerned, and | ||
(ii) (I) the officer has reasonable grounds for believing that the document or other record will be destroyed or tampered with if it is not retained by the officer, and | ||
(II) it is not practicable in the circumstances to make a copy of that document or record, | ||
retain any document or other record for such period as the officer reasonably considers is necessary for the purposes of exercising functions under this Act, | ||
(j) take possession of any container, product, article or substance found at the vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation and retain it for such period as is necessary for any of the following purposes: | ||
(i) to enable its examination; | ||
(ii) to ensure that it is not tampered with before the examination is complete; | ||
(iii) to ensure that it is available to be adduced as evidence in any proceedings, | ||
(k) take photographs or make any record or visual recording of any relevant activity carried on at the vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation concerned, and | ||
(l) monitor the effects of any dumping.”, | ||
(b) by inserting the following after subsection (8): | ||
“(8A) (a) An authorised officer shall not enter so much of a vehicle, place, premises, vessel, aircraft or installation that consists of a dwelling, other than— | ||
(i) with the consent of the occupier, or | ||
(ii) in accordance with a warrant issued under paragraph (b). | ||
(b) Upon the application of an authorised officer, a judge of the District Court, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that— | ||
(i) a relevant thing is to be found in any dwelling, or is being or has been subjected to any process or stored in any dwelling, or | ||
(ii) documents or other records referred to in subsection (2)(g) are being stored or kept in any dwelling, | ||
may issue a warrant authorising a named authorised officer accompanied by such other authorised officers or persons with expertise relating to any relevant thing, 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 any of the functions of an authorised officer under this section.”, | ||
(c) by substituting the following for subsection (9): | ||
“(9) Any person who— | ||
(a) obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer or a person with expertise relating to any relevant thing, in the course of performing a function conferred under this section or a warrant under subsection (8A), | ||
(b) impedes the performance by the authorised officer or person with expertise, as the case may be, of such function or fails or refuses to comply with a request or requirement of, or to answer a question asked by, the officer, member, or person with expertise, as the case may be, pursuant to this paragraph, or | ||
(c) in purported compliance with such request or requirement or in answer to such question gives information to the officer, member, or person with expertise, as the case may be, that that person knows to be false or misleading in any material respect, | ||
commits an offence. | ||
(9A) (a) 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. | ||
(b) A person who, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a requirement under paragraph (a) commits an offence. | ||
(9B) A statement or admission made by a person pursuant to a requirement under subsection (2)(g) shall not be admissible as evidence in proceedings brought against that person for an offence (other than an offence under subsection (9)). | ||
(9C) A person who falsely represents himself or herself to be an authorised officer commits an offence. | ||
(9D) Nothing in this paragraph shall be taken to compel the production by any person of a document which that person would be exempt from producing in proceedings in a court on the ground of legal professional privilege.”, | ||
and | ||
(d) by inserting the following after subsection (12): | ||
“(13) In this section ‘other record’ includes, in addition to a document— | ||
(a) a disc, tape, sound-track or other device, including an electronic 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, | ||
(b) a film, tape, disc or other device, including an electronic 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, | ||
(c) a photograph, | ||
and any reference to a copy of a record includes— | ||
(i) in the case of a record to which paragraph (a) applies, a transcript of the sounds or signals embodied in it, | ||
(ii) in the case of a record to which paragraph (b) applies, a still reproduction of the images embodied in it, and | ||
(iii) in the case of a record to which paragraphs (a) and (b) apply, such a transcript together with such a still reproduction.”. |