| 22.—(1) The court may, on the application of the Commission, issue a warrant authorising by name an investigation officer and one or more authorised assistants to take all or any of the actions in subsection (3) in relation to the premises in respect of which any one of the conditions in subsection (2) applies. [25/2016; 10/2018] (2) The conditions are as follows:| (a) | there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that there are on any premises, documents which have not been produced as required by the Commission under section 20 or 21(5)(e); | | (b) | there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that —| (i) | there are on any premises documents which the Commission has power under section 20 to require to be produced; and | | (ii) | if the documents were required to be produced, they would not be produced but would be concealed, removed, tampered with or destroyed; |
| | (c) | there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that —| (i) | there are on any premises documents or goods which the Commission has power under section 21 to require to be produced or to seize and detain; and | | (ii) | if notice is given under section 21(2), the documents or goods would be concealed, removed, tampered with or destroyed; |
| | (d) | an investigation officer or an authorised assistant has attempted to enter the premises in the exercise of the investigation officer’s or the authorised assistant’s powers (as the case may be) under section 21 but has been unable to do so and there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that there are on the premises —| (i) | documents the production of which could have been required under that section; or | | (ii) | goods which may be seized and detained under that section. [25/2016; 10/2018] |
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(3) The actions, in relation to the premises mentioned in subsection (2)(a), (b), (c) and (d), are as follows:| (a) | enter those premises using any force that is reasonably necessary for the purpose; | | (b) | search any person on those premises if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the person has in the person’s possession any document, goods, equipment or article which is relevant to the investigation; | | (c) | take any photograph or audio or video recording that the named investigation officer or authorised assistant thinks necessary, of the premises and persons on the premises reasonably believed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances relevant to the investigation; | | (d) | seize and detain any goods found on the premises that the named investigation officer or authorised assistant reasonably believes to be relevant to the investigation, and examine the goods to ascertain whether the supplier concerned has engaged in any unfair practice under investigation; | | (e) | bring any equipment which the named investigation officer or authorised assistant considers to be necessary; | | (f) | search the premises and take copies of, or extracts from, any document appearing to be relevant to the investigation; | | (g) | take possession of any document found on the premises appearing to be relevant to the investigation if —| (i) | the action appears to be necessary to preserve or prevent interference with the document; or | | (ii) | it is not reasonably practicable to take copies of the document on the premises; |
| | (h) | take any other step which appears to be necessary for the purpose mentioned in paragraph (g)(i); | | (i) | require any person on the premises —| (i) | to produce any document which the named investigation officer or authorised assistant considers relevant to the investigation; | | (ii) | if the document is produced, to provide an explanation of it; and | | (iii) | if the document is not produced, to state, to the best of the person’s knowledge and belief, where the document is to be found; |
| | (j) | if the named investigation officer or authorised assistant considers any information that is stored in any electronic form and is accessible from the premises to be relevant to the investigation, require that information to be produced in a form in which the information —| (i) | can be taken away; and | | (ii) | is visible and legible; |
| | (k) | remove from those premises for examination any equipment or article which is relevant to the investigation. [25/2016] |
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| (4) If the court issues a warrant on the grounds in subsection (2)(b) or (c), the court may also, on the application of the Commission, authorise the named investigation officer and any authorised assistant to exercise the power under the warrant in respect of any other document relating to the investigation concerned that the court is satisfied it is reasonable to suspect is on the premises. [25/2016; 10/2018] |
| (5) If any equipment or article may be removed from any premises for examination under subsection (3)(k), the named investigation officer or authorised assistant may instead allow the equipment or article to be retained on those premises subject to the requirements that the named investigation officer or authorised assistant may impose on the owner or occupier of the premises. [25/2016] |
(6) A warrant issued under this section must —| (a) | indicate the subject matter and purpose of the investigation; and | | (b) | be accompanied by a copy of the offences under sections 27, 28, 29 and 30, |
| and continues in force for one month beginning on the day on which the warrant is issued, subject to the conditions that the court may specify. |
[25/2016] |
| (7) The named investigation officer or authorised assistant must, before exercising any power under the warrant against any person, produce the warrant to that person. [25/2016] |
(8) If there is no one on the premises when the named investigation officer or authorised assistant intends to execute the warrant, the named investigation officer or authorised assistant must, before executing the warrant —| (a) | take such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances to inform the occupier of the intended entry; and | | (b) | if the occupier is so informed, give the occupier or the occupier’s legal or other representative a reasonable opportunity to be present when the warrant is executed. [25/2016] |
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| (9) If the named investigation officer or authorised assistant is unable to inform the occupier of the intended entry, the named investigation officer or authorised assistant must, when executing the warrant, leave a copy of the warrant in a prominent place on the premises. [25/2016] |
| (10) On leaving any premises which the named investigation officer or authorised assistant has entered under a warrant under this section, the named investigation officer or authorised assistant must, if the premises are unoccupied or the occupier is temporarily absent, leave the premises as effectively secured as the named investigation officer or authorised assistant found them. [25/2016] |
(11) In this section —| “authorised assistant” means a person named in a warrant issued under subsection (1) to accompany and assist a named investigation officer; |
| “named investigation officer” means an investigation officer named in a warrant issued under subsection (1); |
| “occupier”, in relation to any premises, means a person whom the named investigation officer reasonably believes is the occupier of those premises. [12J [25/2016] |
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