The Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2008

Powers of entry: supplementary

13.—(1) When enforcement officers enter premises by virtue of regulation 12(3)(a), they may take with them such other persons and such equipment or materials as they reasonably consider it necessary or expedient to have with them—

(a) for the purpose of establishing whether there has been a contravention of the requirements of Part 2; and

(b) to assist them in exercising any of their powers under regulation 12(3)(b) and (c).

(2) Enforcement officers who enter any premises by virtue of paragraph (3)(a) may direct that those premises, or any part of them, or anything in them, shall be left undisturbed for so long, and to such extent, as is reasonably necessary for the purpose of the exercise of any of their powers under regulation 12(3)(b) and (c).

(3) Where enforcement officers leave any premises that they have entered by virtue of regulation 12(3)(a) and such premises are unoccupied or their occupier is temporarily absent, they shall leave them as effectively secured against a trespasser as they found them.

(4) If enforcement officers or other persons who enter any premises by virtue of this regulation disclose to any person any information obtained by them in the premises with regard to any secret manufacturing process or trade secret, they shall, unless the disclosure was made in the performance of their duty, be guilty of an offence.

(5) It shall not be an offence under paragraph (4) for a person to disclose information in circumstances where—

(a) the person from whom the information was received has consented to the disclosure; or

(b) the information is disclosed more than 50 years after it was received.