(1) Where, on the
application of an authorised officer, a magistrate is satisfied that there are
reasonable grounds to believe that the inspection of documents may provide
information relevant to the administration or enforcement of this Act, the
magistrate may issue a warrant authorising an authorised officer—
(a) to
require a specified person to produce documents under section 33B(1)(d);
and
(b) to
examine, copy and take extracts from those documents or to require a person to
provide a copy of any of those documents under section 33B(1)(e).
(2) Where, on the
application of an authorised officer, a magistrate is satisfied that there are
reasonable grounds to believe that a person may have committed a breach of
this Act, the magistrate may issue a warrant authorising an authorised officer
to take action under section 33B(1)(h).
(3) An application for
the issue of a warrant may be made either personally or by telephone.
(4) The grounds of an
application for a warrant must be verified by affidavit.
(5) An application for
the issue of a warrant may not be made by telephone unless in the opinion of
the applicant a warrant is urgently required and there is insufficient time to
make the application personally.
(6) Where an
application for the issue of a warrant is made by telephone, the following
provisions apply:
(a) the
applicant must inform the magistrate of his or her name and identify himself
or herself as an authorised officer, and the magistrate, on receiving that
information, is entitled to assume, without further inquiry, that the
applicant is an authorised officer; and
(b) the
applicant must inform the magistrate of the grounds on which he or she seeks
the issue of the warrant; and
(c) if
it appears to the magistrate from the information furnished by the applicant
that there are proper grounds for the issue of a warrant, the magistrate must
inform the applicant of the facts on which he or she relies as grounds for the
issue of the warrant, and must not proceed to issue the warrant unless the
applicant undertakes to make an affidavit verifying those facts; and
(d) if
the applicant gives such an undertaking, the magistrate may then make out and
sign a warrant, noting on the warrant the facts on which he or she relies as
grounds for the issue of the warrant; and
(e) the
warrant will be taken to have been issued, and will come into force, when
signed by the magistrate; and
(f) the
magistrate must inform the applicant of the terms of the warrant; and
(g) the
applicant must, as soon as practicable after the issue of the warrant, forward
to the magistrate an affidavit verifying the facts referred to in
paragraph (c).
(7) A magistrate by
whom a warrant is issued must file the warrant, or a copy of the warrant, and
the affidavit verifying the grounds on which the application for the warrant
was made, in the ERD Court.
(8) An authorised
officer who executes a warrant must, as soon as practicable after execution of
the warrant—
(a)
prepare a notice in the prescribed form containing—
(i)
his or her own name and a statement that he or she is an
authorised officer under this Act; and
(ii)
the name of the magistrate who issued the warrant and the
date and time of its issue; and
(iii)
a description of the authority conferred by the warrant;
and
(b) give
the notice to the person affected by the warrant.
(9) A warrant, if not
executed at the expiration of one month from the date of its issue, then
expires.