Consumer Rights Act 2015

Access to seized goods and documents

38 (1) This paragraph applies where anything seized by an officer of an enforcer under Part 4 of this Schedule is detained by the enforcer.

(2) If a request for permission to be granted access to that thing is made to the enforcer by a person who had custody or control of it immediately before it was seized, the enforcer must allow that person access to it under the supervision of an officer of the enforcer.

(3) If a request for a photograph or copy of that thing is made to the enforcer by a person who had custody or control of it immediately before it was seized, the enforcer must—

(a) allow that person access to it under the supervision of an officer of the enforcer for the purpose of photographing or copying it, or

(b) photograph or copy it, or cause it to be photographed or copied.

(4) Where anything is photographed or copied under sub-paragraph (3), the photograph or copy must be supplied to the person who made the request within a reasonable time from the making of the request.

(5) This paragraph does not require access to be granted to, or a photograph or copy to be supplied of, anything if the enforcer has reasonable grounds for believing that to do so would prejudice the investigation for the purposes of which it was seized.

(6) An enforcer may recover the reasonable costs of complying with a request under this paragraph from the person by whom or on whose behalf it was made.

(7) References in this paragraph to a person who had custody or control of a thing immediately before it was seized include a representative of such a person.