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Powers of authorised officers.
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7.—The Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion of the following section after section 31:
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“31A.—(1) In this section ‘authorised officer’ means a person authorised in writing by the Board to exercise, for the purposes of this Act, the powers conferred by this section.
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(2) An authorised officer may, for the purpose of obtaining any information that is necessary or expedient for the purposes of the charging and levying by, and the payment to, the Board of levy or of ascertaining whether the provisions of sections 29 and 31 of this Act are being complied with, on production of the officer's authorisation, if so required—
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(a) at all reasonable times enter premises where he reasonably believes that a person liable to pay levy carries on the business of the export of meat or livestock or the slaughter of livestock or keeps records relating to such a business,
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(b) inspect the premises, search for any records relating to levy or the business of the slaughter or export of meat or livestock,
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(c) require any person found on the premises to produce to him any such records that are in his power or control and take copies of or extracts from or remove and retain any such records, for such period as may be reasonable for their examination or for the purposes of any proceedings in relation to an offence, or the recovery of levy payable, under this Act, and
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(d) require any such person to give to him such information as he may reasonably require in relation to any business carried on on the premises and any such records as aforesaid that are in his power or possession.
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(3) A person who obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of a power or, without reasonable excuse, does not comply with a requirement under this section, or who in purported compliance with such a requirement gives information to an authorised officer that he knows to be false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.”.
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