South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts69—General investigative powers of authorised officers
(1) An authorised
officer who enters a place under this Part may exercise any 1 or
more of the following powers:
(a)
investigate whether the provisions of this Act are being or have been complied
with;
(b)
examine and test electrical infrastructure, electrical installations or
equipment to find out whether the infrastructure, installations or equipment
are safe and comply with the requirements of this Act, or cause or require it
to be so examined or tested, or seize it or require its production for such
examination or testing;
(c)
require a report on any testing conducted under paragraph (b);
(d)
investigate a suspected electrical accident;
(e)
investigate a suspected interference with electrical infrastructure or an
electrical installation;
(f)
investigate a suspected theft or diversion of electricity;
(g)
search for, examine and copy or take an extract from a document or record of
any kind;
(h) take
photographs or make films or other records of activities in the place and
electrical infrastructure, installations or equipment in the place;
(i)
take possession of any object that may be evidence of an
offence against this Act;
(j)
require a person who the authorised officer reasonably suspects has committed,
is committing or is about to commit, a contravention of this Act to state the
person’s full name and usual place of residence and to produce evidence
of the person’s identity;
(k)
require a person, by written notice served on the person, to attend at a
specified time and place.
(2) An
authorised officer may only exercise the powers conferred by
subsection (1) as reasonably required for the administration or
enforcement of this Act.
(3) If an
authorised officer takes possession of an object that may be evidence of an
offence—
(a) the
authorised officer must give the occupier of the place a receipt for the
object; and
(b) the
object must be returned to its owner—
(i)
if proceedings for an offence are not instituted within
the designated period after the authorised officer takes possession of the
object—at the end of that period; or
(ii)
if proceedings have been so instituted—on
completion of the proceedings, unless the court, on application by the
Commission or Technical Regulator (as the case may be), orders confiscation of
the object.
(4) A court may order
the confiscation of an object of which an authorised officer has taken
possession under subsection (1) if of the opinion that the object has
been used for the purpose of committing an offence or there is some other
proper reason for ordering its confiscation.
(5) If the court
orders the confiscation of an object, the Commission or Technical Regulator
may dispose of the object.
(6) A person
who—
(a)
having been asked a question under this section, does not answer the question
to the best of his or her knowledge, information and belief; or
(b)
refuses or fails to comply with a requirement or direction of an
authorised officer under this section; or
(c)
being the person in charge of a place subject to an inspection and having been
required to provide reasonable assistance to facilitate the inspection,
refuses or fails to provide such assistance,
is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $20 000.
(7) In this
section—
"designated period" means 1 year or such longer period as a magistrate
may, on application by the Technical Regulator, allow.