Section 28 Warrants for entry, search and seizureI1

England, Wales and Scotland Not yet in force

(1)

A justice of the peace may, if satisfied that the conditions in subsection (2) are met, grant a warrant to the Secretary of State authorising the exercise of the powers in section 29 in relation to premises identified in the warrant.

(2)

The conditions are—

(a)

that the premises are being used by a regulated body,

(b)

that it is appropriate to grant the warrant for any of the investigative purposes (see section 16), and

(c)

that it is necessary to grant the warrant for one of the reasons given in subsection (3).

(3)

The reasons are—

(a)

that an information notice or interview notice has been issued to the regulated body and not complied with;

(b)

that there is reason to believe that, if an information notice or interview notice were issued to the regulated body, it would not be complied with;

(c)

that an information notice or interview notice to which section 19 applies has been issued to the regulated body but has not succeeded in obtaining the information that it sought to obtain;

(d)

that the need to exercise the powers is too urgent to await the obtaining of information further to an information notice or interview notice.

(4)

A justice of the peace may be satisfied that the conditions in subsection (2) are met only on the basis of information or evidence given on oath on behalf of the Secretary of State.

(5)

References in this section to a justice of the peace include a sheriff in Scotland.

(6)

For the purposes of this section, a person who has ceased to be a regulated body is to be treated, in relation to anything that occurred when the person was a regulated body, as if the person were still a regulated body.

Annotations

Commencement

I1: S. 28 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 99(1)