8(1)For the purposes—
(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
(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,
an 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.
(2)The power conferred by this paragraph to require any person to produce documents includes power—
(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,
(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.
(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 [F1level 3 on the standard scale] , or to both.
Where 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.
Textual Amendments
F1Words 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