New South Wales Consolidated Acts New South Wales Consolidated Acts(cf s 118 MAA)
(1) In this section--
"authorised officer" means a member of staff, or other person, in either case authorised by the Authority for the purposes of a specified investigation under this section.
"insurer" means a licensed insurer or a former licensed insurer, and includes any insurance broker or commission agent engaged in third-party insurance business.
"premises" includes any structure, building, aircraft, vehicle, vessel and place (whether built on or not).
(2) An authorised officer may--(a) on production of his or her authority, enter at any reasonable hour any premises (not being a dwelling-house) used, or that the authorised officer reasonably suspects to be used, by an insurer for conduct of the insurer's business or the storage or custody of any document, and(b) remain in or on those premises while exercising any power conferred by this section, and(c) require an insurer or any other person in or on those premises to produce any such document that is in his or her possession or under his or her control and is capable of being produced, and(d) require an insurer or any other person having possession or control of any such document that is not written, or is not written in the English language, or is not decipherable on sight, to produce a statement, written in the English language and decipherable on sight, of the information contained in the document, and(e) inspect, or make copies of or take extracts from, a document produced pursuant to paragraph (c) or a statement produced pursuant to paragraph (d), or retain such a statement, and(f) require an insurer or any other person in or on those premises to answer questions relating to--(i) the business or financial position of an insurer, or(ii) the observance of this Act or the regulations.
(3) A person must not--(a) refuse or fail to allow an authorised officer to enter premises under this section, or(b) wilfully obstruct or delay an authorised officer when exercising any powers under this section, or(c) unreasonably refuse or fail to produce a document or statement to an authorised officer under this section, or(d) if an authorised officer informs a person that by virtue of this Act the person is obliged to answer questions relating to any matter referred to in subsection (2) (f)--(i) refuse or fail to answer such a question, or(ii) give an answer to such a question that the person knows is false or misleading in a material particular.: Maximum penalty--50 penalty units.
(4) A person may not refuse to answer a question under subsection (2) on the ground that it might tend to incriminate the person, but neither the question nor the answer is admissible in any civil or criminal proceedings against the person other than proceedings for an offence under this section.