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Records to be kept by registered coal retailers.
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23.—(1) Every registered coal retailer shall keep or cause to be kept the prescribed records in the prescribed form of all coal and all turf bought, received, sold, or delivered by him and, shall, not later than the next day which is not a Sunday or a bank holiday after such buying, receipt, sale or delivery, make or cause to be made in every such record the prescribed entries in respect thereof.
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(2) Regulations made under this Act prescribing the records to be kept in pursuance of this section may require that a registered coal retailer who is registered in respect of two or more distinct premises shall keep separate such records in respect of each such distinct premises.
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(3) Every record kept in pursuance of this section may be inspected at any time during office hours by an inspector or by an officer of the Board authorised for the purpose by the Minister in writing or by a member of the Gárda Síochana, and it shall be the duty of the person liable under this section to keep such record to produce for the inspection of such inspector, officer, or member on demand such record and also all invoices, consignment notes, receipts, and other documents (including copies thereof where the originals are not available) reasonably demanded by such inspector, officer or member for the purpose of verifying any entry in or explaining any omission from such record.
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(4) If any person—
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(a) fails to keep or cause to be kept such record as is required by this section to be kept or caused to be kept by him; or
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(b) fails to make or cause to be made in such record, within the time limited by this section, any entry required by this section to be made by him in such record; or
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(c) fails to produce or cause to be produced on demand for inspection by an inspector or by an officer of the Board authorised for the purpose by the Minister in writing or by a member of the Gárda Síochána any record, document, or copy of a document which he is required by this section to produce for such inspection, or obstructs any inspector or any such officer or member in the making of such inspection; or
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(d) wilfully or negligently makes or causes to be made in such record any entry which is false or misleading in any material particular,
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he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.
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(5) For the purposes of this section—
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(a) inspection of a record or document shall include taking copies thereof or making extracts therefrom; and
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(b) a demand under this section by an inspector, an officer of the Board or a member of the Gárda Síochána for the production of a record or document for inspection shall be deemed to have been duly made to the person liable under this section to keep such record or the record to which such document relates (as the case may be) if such demand is made verbally at such premises to any individual in the employment of such person; and
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(c) a refusal or failure to produce for inspection under this section a record or document, if made or committed at the premises at which such record or document is kept by an individual in the employment of the person liable under this section to produce such record or document, shall be deemed to have been made or committed by such person; and
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(d) the expression “office hours” means—
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(i) in relation to any day (not being a Sunday, a bank holiday, or a locally observed holiday or half-holiday), any time between the hours of ten o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon during which business is being carried on or work is being done at the relevant premises; and
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(ii) in relation to any locally observed half-holiday, any time between the hours of ten o'clock in the morning and one o'clock in the afternoon during which business is being carried on or work is being done at the relevant premises.
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