Commonwealth Numbered Acts Commonwealth Numbered Acts(1) An authorised officer may apply to a magistrate for an order permitting the retention of the thing for a further period if:
(a) before the end of 60 days after the seizure; or
(b) before the end of a period previously specified in an order of a magistrate under this section;
proceedings in respect of which the thing may afford evidence have not commenced.
(2) If the magistrate is satisfied that it is necessary for the thing to continue to be retained:
(a) for the purpose of either or both of the following:
(i) an investigation as to whether an offence against this Act or this Act's associated provisions has been committed;
(ii) an investigation as to whether there has been a contravention of a civil penalty provision; or
(b) to enable either or both of the following:
(i) evidence of an offence mentioned in subparagraph (a)(i) to be secured for the purposes of a prosecution;
(ii) evidence of a contravention of a civil penalty provision to be secured for the purposes of civil penalty proceedings;
the magistrate may order that the thing may continue to be retained for a period specified in the order (which must not exceed 3 years).
(3) Before making the application, the authorised officer must:
(a) take reasonable steps to discover who has an interest in the retention of the thing; and
(b) if it is practicable to do so, notify each person whom the authorised officer believes to have such an interest of the proposed application.