Section 13 Powers as to entry of premises and regrading of produce.
A person authorised in that behalf either by the Minister or the Secretary of State (in this Part of this Act referred to as an “authorised officer”), on producing, if so required, a duly authenticated document showing his authority, shall have a right—
to enter, at any reasonable time, any premises (other than a building used only as a private dwelling-house) which he has reasonable cause to believe to be premises where regulated produce is grown for sale, graded or packed, or on which regulated produce intended for sale otherwise than by retail is to be found, and
to inspect and take samples of any regulated produce found on the premises and to seize and detain any label (together with any container to which the label is affixed) used in connection with such produce.
Where, on premises which he has a right to enter under the foregoing subsection, an authorised officer finds any regulated produce—
which has affixed to it a label in the form prescribed for any prescribed grade or is in a container to which such a label is affixed, but
which he has reasonable cause to believe to be of a quality inferior to the quality required for that grade,
he may, in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Ministers, cancel that label and affix to the produce or, as the case may be, the container a label, in such form as may be so prescribed, indicating what appears to him to be the correct grade or, where it appears to him that the quality of the produce is inferior to that required for the lowest prescribed grade, indicating that fact.
If a justice of the peace, on sworn information in writing, is satisfied—
that an authorised officer has been refused admission to any premises which he has a right to enter under subsection (1) above, or that such a refusal is apprehended, and that notice of the intention to apply for a warrant has been given to the occupier; or
that an application for admission to the premises, or the giving of such a notice, would defeat the object of the entry, or that the premises are unoccupied or the occupier temporarily absent;
the justice may by warrant under his hand, which shall continue in force for a period of one month, give authority to an authorised officer to enter the premises by force if need be.
In the application of this subsection to Scotland, the expression “a justice of the peace” shall be construed as including the sheriff and, in relation to premises in a burgh, a magistrate of the burgh.
An authorised officer entering any premises by virtue of this section may take with him such other persons and such equipment as may appear to him necessary.
On leaving any premises which he has entered by virtue of this section, being premises which are unoccupied or the occupier of which is temporarily absent, an authorised officer shall leave them as effectively secured against unauthorised entry as he found them.
If any authorised officer or other person who enters any work-place by virtue of this section discloses to any person any information obtained by him in the work-place with regard to any manufacturing process or trade secret, he shall, unless the disclosure was made in the performance of his duty, be guilty of an offence.
The foregoing provisions of this section shall apply in relation to a stall or vehicle as they apply in relation to premises, but nothing in this section shall authorise a person to stop any vehicle on a F1highway.road.
Annotations
Textual amendments
- F1
Word “road”substituted (S.) for “highway”by Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 54, SIF 108), ss. 128(1), 156, Sch. 9 para. 57
Notes on Part III
Modifications
- C1
Certain functions of Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food transferred by S.I. 1978/272, art. 4