Gas Supply Act 1996

A government inspector may, at premises lawfully entered, do the following if the government inspector considers it necessary to ensure compliance with this Act or the regulations—

seize a thing, if the government inspector has reasonable grounds for believing the thing is connected with an offence against this Act or the regulations,

move a seized thing from the place where the thing is seized or leave the thing at the place where the thing is seized and take reasonable action to restrict access to the thing,

make a seized thing inoperable,

carry out tests,

examine, inspect and remove records or other documents,

copy records or other documents.

The power to seize a thing connected with an offence includes a power to seize—

a thing for or with which the offence has been committed, and

a thing providing evidence of the commission of the offence, and

a thing used for the purposes of committing the offence.

The power to do a thing under this section—

includes a power to require or arrange for the thing to be done, and

may be exercised without the consent of the owner of the thing.

The power under subsection (1)(e) and (f) includes a power to examine, inspect and remove a record or other document, or to copy a record or other document, that is or includes an individual’s health information the government inspector believes, on reasonable grounds, may be relevant to providing evidence of the commission of an offence against this Act or the regulations.

In this section, a reference to an offence includes a reference to an offence there are reasonable grounds for believing has been committed.