Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) An authorised person may operate electronic equipment at the premises to see whether evidential material in respect of an offence against this Act, in respect of a contravention of a civil penalty provision or in respect of both is accessible by doing so.
(2) If the authorised person, after operating the equipment, finds that evidential material in respect of an offence against this Act, in respect of a contravention of a civil penalty provision or in respect of both is accessible by doing so, he or she may:
(a) seize the equipment and any disk, tape or other associated device; or
(b) operate electronic equipment on the premises to put the evidential material in documentary form and remove the documents so produced from the premises; or
(c) operate electronic equipment on the premises to transfer the evidential material to a disk, tape or other storage device that:
(i) is brought to the premises for the exercise of the power; or
(ii) is on the premises and the use of which for that purpose has been agreed in writing by the occupier of the premises;
and remove the disk, tape or other storage device from the premises.
(2A) An authorised person may operate electronic equipment as mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) only if the authorised person believes on reasonable grounds that the operation of the equipment can be carried out without damage to the equipment.
Note: For compensation for damage to electronic equipment, see section 48D.
(3) An authorised person may seize equipment under paragraph (2)(a) only if:
(a) it is not practicable to put the material in documentary form as mentioned in paragraph (2)(b) or to transfer the material as mentioned in paragraph (2)(c); or
(b) possession by the occupier of the equipment could constitute an offence.
(4) If the authorised person believes on reasonable grounds that:
(a) evidential material in respect of an offence against this Act, in respect of a contravention of a civil penalty provision or in respect of both may be accessible by operating electronic equipment at the premises; and
(b) expert assistance is required to operate the equipment; and
(c) if he or she does not take action under this subsection, the material may be destroyed, altered or otherwise interfered with;
he or she may do whatever is necessary to secure the equipment, whether by locking it up, placing a guard or otherwise.
(5) The authorised person must give notice to the occupier of the premises of his or her intention to secure equipment and of the fact that the equipment may be secured for up to 24 hours.
(6) The equipment may be secured:
(a) for a period not exceeding 24 hours; or
(b) until the equipment has been operated by the expert;
(7) The authorised person may apply to a magistrate for an extension of the 24 - hour period if the authorised person believes on reasonable grounds that the equipment needs to be secured for longer than that period.
(8) The authorised person must give notice to the occupier of the premises of his or her intention to apply for an extension, and the occupier is entitled to be heard in relation to the application.
(9) The 24 - hour period may be extended more than once.