Powers of British sea-fishery officers on land
15
1
For the purpose of enforcing a relevant offence any British sea fishery officer may–
a
enter and inspect at any reasonable time any premises used for carrying on any business in connection with the operation of fishing boats or activities connected therewith or ancillary thereto or with the treatment, storage or sale of fishery products;
b
take with the officer such other persons as appear to the officer to be necessary and any equipment or materials;
c
examine any fishery product on the premises and require persons on the premises to do anything which appears to that officer to be necessary for facilitating the examination;
d
carry out at such premises such other inspections or tests as may reasonably be necessary;
e
require any person not to remove or cause to be removed any fishery product from such premises for such a period as may be reasonably necessary for the purposes of establishing whether a relevant offence has at any time been committed;
f
require any person on the premises to produce any documents which are in the custody or possession of that person relating to the catching, landing, transportation, transhipment, sale or disposal of any fishery product;
g
for the purpose of ascertaining whether a relevant offence has been committed, search the premises for any such document and may require any person on the premises to do anything which appears to that officer to be necessary for facilitating the search;
h
inspect and take copies of any such document produced or found on the premises;
i
require any appropriate or responsible person to render any such documents on a computer system into a visible and legible form and to produce them in a form in which they may be taken away; and
j
if the officer has reason to suspect that a relevant offence has been committed, seize and detain any such document produced or found on the premises, for the purposes of enabling the document to be used as evidence in proceedings for the offence.
2
The provisions of paragraph (1) shall apply in relation to any land used in connection with any of the activities described in paragraph (1), or in respect of any vehicle which a British sea fishery officer has reasonable cause to believe is being used to transport fishery products, as they apply in relation to premises and, in the case of a vehicle, shall include power to require the vehicle to stop at any time and, if necessary, direct the vehicle to some other place to facilitate inspection.
3
If the sheriff by information on oath is–
a
satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that any documents or other items which a British sea fishery officer has power under this article to inspect are on any premises and that their inspection is likely to disclose evidence of the commission of a relevant offence; and
b
also satisfied either–
i
that admission to the premises has been or is likely to be refused and that notice of intention to apply for a warrant has been given to the occupier; or
ii
that an application for admission or the giving of such notice would defeat the object of the entry; or
iii
that the premises are unoccupied or the occupier is temporarily absent and it might defeat the object of the entry to await return of the occupier,
the sheriff may by signed warrant, valid for a period of no more than 1 month, authorise a British sea fishery officer to enter the premises, if need be by using reasonable force, accompanied by such persons as appear to the officer to be necessary.