44—Insertion of sections 5A and 5B
Part 1—after section 5 insert:
5A—Enforcement
(1) The powers of
authorised officers under sections 77 and 78 of the Fair Trading Act 1987
may be exercised by police officers for the enforcement of this Act, and those
sections apply for that purpose as if police officers were authorised
officers.
(2) However,
section 78(4) of the Fair Trading Act 1987 does not apply to a police
officer in uniform.
5B—Criminal intelligence
(1) No information
provided by the Commissioner of Police to the Commissioner may be disclosed to
any person (except the Minister, a court or a person to whom the Commissioner
of Police authorises its disclosure) if the information is classified by
the Commissioner of Police as criminal intelligence.
(2) If
the Commissioner—
(a)
refuses an application for a security agents licence, or imposes a condition
on a security agents licence, or suspends a security agents licence; and
(b) the
decision to do so is made because of information that is classified by
the Commissioner of Police as criminal intelligence,
the Commissioner is not required to provide any grounds or reasons for the
decision other than that to grant the application would be contrary to the
public interest, or that it would be contrary to the public interest if the
licence were to continue in force without the condition, or that it would be
contrary to the public interest if the licensee were to continue to be
licensed.
(3) If
the Commissioner of Police objects to an application under section 8A because
of information that is classified by the Commissioner of Police as criminal
intelligence, the Commissioner must, as soon as reasonably practicable after
receiving the notice of objection, instead of serving a copy of the notice of
objection on the applicant, advise the applicant in writing that the
Commissioner of Police has objected to the application on the ground that to
grant the application would be contrary to the public interest.
(4) If
the Commissioner or the Commissioner of Police lodges a complaint under Part 4
because of information that is classified by the Commissioner of Police as
criminal intelligence, the complaint need only state that it would be contrary
to the public interest if the person specified in the complaint were to be or
continue to be licensed.
(5) In any proceedings
under this Act, the Commissioner or the Court—
(a)
must, on the application of the Commissioner of Police, take steps to maintain
the confidentiality of information classified by the Commissioner of Police as
criminal intelligence, including steps to receive evidence and hear argument
about the information in private in the absence of the parties to the
proceedings and their representatives; and
(b) may
take evidence consisting of or relating to information classified by
the Commissioner of Police as criminal intelligence by way of affidavit of a
police officer of or above the rank of superintendent.
(6) The Commissioner
of Police may not delegate the function of classifying information as criminal
intelligence for the purposes of this Act except to a Deputy Commissioner or
Assistant Commissioner of Police.