199Powers of entry
(1)A justice of the peace may issue a warrant under this section if satisfied on information on oath laid by or on behalf of the Secretary of State that there are reasonable grounds for believing—
(a)that an offence has been committed under section 4, 47, 57, 130, 133 or 171(2) or (3) above or section 1, 2, 4 or 5 of the [1985 c. 8.] Company Securities (Insider Dealing) Act 1985 and that there are on any premises documents relevant to the question whether that offence has been committed ; or
(b)that there are on any premises owned or occupied by a person whose affairs, or any aspect of whose affairs, are being investigated under section 105 above documents whose production has been required under that section and which have not been produced in compliance with that requirement;
but paragraph (b) above applies only if the person there mentioned is an authorised person, a person whose authorisation has been suspended or who is the subject of a direction under section 33(1)(6) above or an appointed representative of an authorised person.
(2)A justice of the peace may issue a warrant under this section if satisfied on information on oath laid by an inspector appointed under section 94 above that there are reasonable grounds for believing that there are on any premises owned or occupied by—
(a)the manager, trustee or operator of any scheme the affairs of which are being investigated under subsection (1) of that section ; or
(b)a manager, trustee or operator whose affairs are being investigated under that subsection,
any documents whose production has been required under that section and which have not been produced in compliance with that requirement.
(3)A warrant under this section shall authorise a constable, together with any other person named in it and any other constables—
(a)to enter the premises specified in the information, using such force as is reasonably necessary for the purpose;
(b)to search the premises and take possession of any documents appearing to be such documents as are mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b) or, as the case may be, in subsection (2) above or to take, in relation to any such documents, any other steps which may appear to be necessary for preserving them or preventing interference with them;
(c)to take copies of any such documents ; and
(d)to require any person named in the warrant to provide an explanation of them or to state where they may be found.
(4)A warrant under this section shall continue in force until the end of the period of one month beginning with the day on which it is issued.
(5)Any documents of which possession is taken under this section may be retained—
(a)for a period of three months; or
(b)if within that period proceedings to which the documents are relevant are commenced against any person for an offence under this Act or section 1, 2, 4 or 5 of the said Act of 1985, until the conclusion of those proceedings.
(6)Any person who obstructs the exercise of any rights conferred by a warrant issued under this section or fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed in accordance with subsection (3)(d) above shall be guilty of an offence and liable—
(a)on conviction on indictment, to a fine;
(b)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.
(7)The functions to which section 114 above applies shall include the functions of the Secretary of State under this section ; but if any of those functions are transferred under that section the transfer may be subject to a reservation that they are to be exercisable by the Secretary of State concurrently with the designated agency and, in the case of functions exercisable by virtue of subsection (l)(a) above, so as to be exercisable by the agency subject to such conditions or restrictions as the Secretary of State may from time to time impose.
(8)In the application of this section to Scotland the references to a justice of the peace shall include references to a sheriff and for references to the laying of information on oath there shall be substituted references to furnishing evidence on oath; and in the application of this section to Northern Ireland for references to the laying of information on oath there shall be substituted references to making a complaint on oath.
(9)In this section " documents" includes information recorded in any form and, in relation to information recorded otherwise than in legible form, references to its production include references to producing a copy of the information in legible form.