Finance Act 2015

Amendment of Chapter 4 of Part 2 of Finance Act 2001 (powers of officers)

44. Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the Finance Act 2001 is amended—

(a) in section 133 by inserting the following definitions:

“ ‘the Acts’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 1078 (1) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ;

‘computer’ means any electronic device used for information storage or retrieval and includes a mobile phone or any other electronic means of information storage or retrieval;

‘computer at the premises or place which is being searched’, includes any other computer, whether at that premises or place, or at any other premises or place, which is lawfully accessible by means of the computer at the premises or place being searched;

‘information in a non-legible form’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 908C of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ;

‘premises or place’ means any building (or part of a building), dwelling, vehicle, any other vessel or place (or part of a place), whatsoever;”,

(b) in section 135 by inserting the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) Where an officer carrying out a search under subsection (1) reasonably suspects that any excisable products in the vehicle are liable to forfeiture under excise law, then that officer, or any officer accompanying that officer, may—

(a) search the vehicle for any record or thing that the officer reasonably believes is likely to be of value (whether by itself or together with other information) to the investigation of excisable products liable to forfeiture, or for any legal proceedings under excise law,

(b) inspect and take copies of, or extracts from, any such record (including, in the case of any information in a non-legible form, a copy of, or of an extract from, such information in a permanent legible form),

(c) remove, retain and operate any computer found in the vehicle, or in the possession of a person in the vehicle, for the purpose of accessing, reproducing or copying records that an officer reasonably believes to contain information likely to be of value in the investigation of excisable products liable to forfeiture or for any legal proceedings under excise law and to retain such computer for so long as it is reasonably required for this purpose, and

(d) require a person who appears to an officer to be in a position to facilitate access to the records and information held on, or which can be accessed by the use of, a computer retained under paragraph (c), to give to the officer any password or guidance necessary to operate the computer for the purpose of accessing the records and information held on, or accessible, by the computer, in a form in which the information is visible and legible.”,

and

(c) in section 136—

(i) by substituting “premises or place” for “premises or other place” in subsections (1) and (2),

(ii) by substituting the following for paragraph (c) of subsection (3):

“(c) in relation to any records referred to in subsection (1)(f) —

(i) search for, inspect and take copies of or extracts from any such records (including, in the case of any information in a non- legible form, a copy of, or of an extract from, such information in a permanent legible form),

(ii) require any person present to produce any such records which are in that person’s possession, custody or procurement and in the case of information in a non-legible form, to produce it in a legible form or to reproduce it in a permanent legible form,

(iii) remove and, for as long as necessary, retain (or cause to be removed and retained) any record found there, or in the possession of a person present there at the time of the search, where an officer reasonably believes the record is likely to be of value (whether by itself or together with other information)—

(I) to the investigation of an offence under excise law, or for the purpose of any legal proceedings under excise law, or

(II) as evidence of, or relating to, the commission of an offence under excise law, or

(III) in the assessment of any duty payable under excise law or any other tax payable under the Acts,

and

(iv) take any other steps which may appear to the officer to be necessary for preserving any such record and preventing interference with it,”,

(iii) by substituting the following for subsection (6):

“(6) A search warrant issued under this section shall be expressed and shall operate to authorise a named officer accompanied by such other officers and such other persons as the officer considers necessary—

(a) to enter, at any time or times within one month of the date of issuing of the warrant, (if necessary by the use of reasonable force) the premises or place named or specified in the warrant,

(b) to search, or cause to be searched, such premises or place and to inspect any thing or record found there,

(c) to require any person present to produce for inspection any record or thing in that person’s possession, custody, or procurement,

(d) to seize any thing found there, or in the possession of a person there, if there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the thing is liable to forfeiture under the law relating to excise, or exercise, in relation to any thing so found or in the possession of such a person, the power of detention under section 140,

(e) to remove, or cause to be removed, from there any thing or record that the officer has reason to believe may be of value to the investigation of an excise offence, or as evidence in proceedings under excise law, or for the purpose of assessing any duty payable under excise law or any other tax payable under the Acts, and to retain such thing or record for so long as it is reasonably required for these purposes,

(f) to take any other steps which may appear to the officer to be necessary for preserving any such thing or record and preventing interference with it.”,

and

(iv) by the addition of the following subsections after subsection (6):

“(7) The authority conferred by a search warrant issued under this section to retain (or to cause to be retained) any record or thing includes—

(a) in the case of books, documents or records, authority to make and retain a copy of the books, documents or records, and

(b) authority to remove and, for as long as necessary, retain, any computer or other storage medium in which records are kept and to inspect, copy, or cause to be copied, such records.

(8) An officer acting pursuant to a search warrant under this section may—

(a) operate any computer at the premises or place being searched, or cause any such computer to be operated by a person accompanying the officer,

(b) operate any computer removed from a premises or place searched under this section or cause any such computer to be operated by a person accompanying the officer, and

(c) require any person at that premises or place who appears to the officer to be in a position to facilitate access to the records and information held in a computer, or to records and information that can be accessed by the use of that computer—

(i) to give to the officer any password or guidance necessary to operate it,

(ii) to enable the officer to examine the information accessible by the computer in a form in which the information is visible and legible, or

(iii) to produce the information in a form in which it can be removed and in which it is, or can be made, visible and legible.

(9) Any record or thing retained by an officer under this section which is required for the purposes of any legal proceedings, whether criminal proceedings or otherwise, may be retained for so long as it is reasonably required for those purposes.”.