(1)An officer of a CPC enforcer may, in the exercise of his powers under section 227A—
(a)observe the carrying on of a business on the premises;
(b)inspect goods or documents on the premises;
(c)require any person on the premises to produce goods or documents within such period as the officer considers to be reasonable;
(d)seize goods or documents to carry out tests on them on the premises or seize, remove and retain them to carry out tests on them elsewhere; or
(e)seize, remove and retain goods or documents which he reasonably suspects may be required as evidence of a Community infringement or a breach of a relevant enforcement measure.
(2)The power in subsection (1)(c) to require a person to produce goods or documents includes the power to require him—
(a)to state, to the best of his knowledge and belief, where the goods or documents are;
(b)to give an explanation of the goods or documents; and
(c)to secure that any goods or documents produced are authenticated or verified in such manner as the officer considers appropriate.
(3)An officer of a CPC enforcer may take copies of, or extracts from, any documents to which he has access by virtue of subsection (1).
(4)But nothing in this section authorises action to be taken in relation to anything which, in proceedings in the High Court, a person would be entitled to refuse to produce on the grounds of legal professional privilege.
(5)In this section document includes information recorded in any form.
(6)The reference in subsection (1)(c) to the production of documents is, in the case of a document which contains information recorded otherwise than in legible form, a reference to the production of a copy of the information in legible form.
(7)In its application to Scotland, this section has effect as if the reference in subsection (4)—
(a)to proceedings in the High Court were a reference to proceedings in the Court of Session; and
(b)to an entitlement on the grounds of legal professional privilege were a reference to an entitlement on the grounds of confidentiality of communications.]
Textual Amendments
F1Ss. 227A-227F inserted (8.1.2007) by The Enterprise Act 2002 (Amendment) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/3363), reg. 17
Textual Amendments applied to the whole legislation
F2Act: for the words "solicitor of the Supreme Court of Northern Ireland" wherever they occur there is substituted (prosp.) the words "solicitor of the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland" by virtue of Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4), ss. 59, 148(1), Sch. 11 para. 5 [Editorial Note: this amendment will be carried through into the text of the Act at the same time as any other effects on the Act for the year in which the relevant commencement order (or first such order) is made]