Dangerous Substances Act 1979

Subject to this Part, an authorised officer may—

enter, inspect and search any place or vehicle, and open any container or other thing, for any reasonable purpose connected with the administration, operation or enforcement of this Act;

with the authority of a warrant issued under this Part or in circumstances in which the authorised officer reasonably believes that immediate action is required, use reasonable force to break into or open any part of, or anything in or on, any place or vehicle;

give directions with respect to the stopping or movement of a vehicle as reasonably required in connection with the administration, operation or enforcement of this Act;

require a vehicle to be presented for inspection at a place and time specified by the authorised officer;

take, or require a person to take and provide, samples of any substance or thing from any place or vehicle for analysis as reasonably required in connection with the administration, operation or enforcement of this Act;

require any person to produce any documents, including a written record that reproduces in an understandable form information stored by computer, microfilm or other process, as reasonably required in connection with the administration, operation or enforcement of this Act;

examine, copy or take extracts from any documents or information so produced or require a person to provide a copy of any such document or information;

take photographs, films, audio, video or other recordings as reasonably required in connection with the administration, operation or enforcement of this Act;

examine or test any substance, sample, plant, equipment, article, vehicle or other thing for the purpose of determining whether a provision of this Act is being or has been complied with, or cause or require it to be so examined or tested, or seize it or require its production for such examination or testing;

seize and retain, or issue a seizure order in respect of, anything that the authorised officer reasonably suspects has been used in, or may constitute evidence of, a contravention of this Act;

require a person who the authorised officer reasonably suspects has committed, is committing or is about to commit, a contravention of this Act to state the person's full name and usual place of residence and to produce evidence of the person's identity;

require a person who the authorised officer reasonably suspects has knowledge of matters in respect of which information is reasonably required for the administration, operation or enforcement of this

require a person holding or required to hold a licence, accreditation or permit to produce it for inspection;

give any directions reasonably required in connection with the exercise of a power conferred by any of the paragraphs above or otherwise in connection with the administration, operation or enforcement of this

exercise other prescribed powers.

If—

a person whose native language is not English is suspected of having committed an offence against this Act; and

the person is not reasonably fluent in English, the following provisions apply:

the person is entitled to be assisted by an interpreter during questioning conducted by an authorised officer in the course of an investigation of the suspected offence;

if it appears that the person may be entitled to be assisted by an interpreter, an authorised officer must not proceed with any questioning, or further questioning, as part of the investigation until the person has been informed of the right to an interpreter;

if the person requests the assistance of an interpreter, an authorised officer must not proceed with any questioning, or further questioning, until an interpreter is present.

Subsection (2) does not apply to the extent that an authorised officer requires information necessary to deal immediately with a dangerous situation.

In the exercise of powers under this Act an authorised officer may be assisted by such persons as he or she considers necessary in the circumstances.

An authorised officer may require an occupier of a place or a person apparently in charge of a substance, plant, equipment, article, vehicle or other thing to give to the authorised officer or a person assisting the authorised officer such assistance as is reasonably required by the authorised officer for the effective exercise of powers conferred by this Act.