{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-act-1977/schedule-11/paragraph-8",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-act-1977/schedule-11/paragraph-8.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1977/49",
  "legislation_title": "National Health Service Act 1977",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-act-1977",
  "path": "schedule/11/paragraph/8",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "8",
  "heading": null,
  "text": "(1) For the purposes—\n(a) of securing compliance with any order made or direction given under section 57 above by or on behalf of the Secretary of State, or\n(b) of verifying any estimates, returns or information furnished to the Secretary of State in connection with section 57 or any order made or direction given under that section,\nan officer of the Secretary of State duly authorised in that behalf has power, on producing (if required to do so) evidence of his authority, to require any person carrying on an undertaking or employed in connection with an undertaking to produce to that officer forthwith any documents relating to the undertaking which that officer may reasonably require for the purpose set out above.\n(2) The power conferred by this paragraph to require any person to produce documents includes power—\n(a) if the documents are produced, to take copies of them or extracts from them and to require that person, or where that person is a body corporate, any other person who is a present or past officer of, or is employed by, the body corporate, to provide an explanation of any of them,\n(b) if the documents are not produced, to require the person who was required to produce them to state, to the best of his knowledge and belief, where they are.\n(3) If any requirement to produce documents or provide an explanation or make a statement which is imposed by virtue of this paragraph is not complied with, the person on whom the requirement was so imposed is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale , or to both.\nWhere a person is charged with such an offence in respect of a requirement to produce any document, it shall be a defence to prove that they were not in his possession or under his control and that it was not reasonably practicable for him to comply with the requirements.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Act repealed (except ss. 57, Sch. 11 and ss. 126, 128 so far as they relate to those provisions, which are repealed only for E.W., see s. 7(3) of the repealing Act; and except s. 41B(2)(6)(b) as amended by S.I. 2006/1056, which is repealed immediately after that amendment comes into force, see s. 8(4)-(6); and except ss. 19, 28J, 38, 39, 41, 41B(2)(6)(b), 42(2B)(2C), 42A, 42B, 43(2), 49F, 49H, 98, 128, Sch. 8 para. 2(2B), Sch. 8A, Sch. 9A para. 6, Sch. 12 paras. 2A(1)(b)(ba), 2B, Sch. 12B as amended by Health Act 2006 (c. 28) which are repealed immediately after those amendments come into force on 1.8.2008 and 9.5.2013, see s. 8(4)-(6); and except ss. 3, 15, 16CD, 16CE, 18A, 26, 28WA-28WF, 28X, 28Y, 38, 39, 43D, 44, 45A, 45C, 72, 103 as amended by Health Act 2006 (c. 28) and to the extent that they relate to primary ophthalmic services, which are repealed immediately after those amendments come into force on 1.8.2008, see s. 8(4)-(6)) (1.3.2007) by National Health Service (Consequential Provisions) Act 2006 (c. 43), ss. 6, 8(2), Sch. 4 (with saving for s. 126 in Sch. 2 para. 7 and general savings and transitional provisions in Sch. 2 Pt. 1 and transitory modifications relating to primary ophthalmic services in Sch. 3 para. 1); S.I. 2008/1972, art. 2; S.I. 2013/1112, art. 2Act: specified provisions amended and repealed and specified amendments and repeals by specified legislation commenced (1.3.2007 immediately before the National Health Service Act 2006 (c. 41) comes into force) by virtue of The National Health Service (Pre-consolidation Amendments) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/1407), arts. 1-3, Schs. 1, 2 (with art. 4)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Sch. 11 ceases to have effect in relation to health service medicines (1.9.1999 for certain purposes and otherwise 1.11.1999) by 1999 c. 8, s. 38(5); S.I. 1999/2177, art. 2(3)(b)(4)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words substituted by virtue of (E.W.) Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), ss. 38, 46 and (N.I.) S.I. 1984/703 (N.I. 3), arts. 5, 6"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/49/schedule/11/paragraph/8",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T10:24:07.293795+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}