Telecommunications Act

Marginal note:Designation of inspectors

• 71 (1) The Commission may designate any qualified person as an inspector for the purpose of verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with the provisions of this Act or any special Act for which the Commission is responsible and with the decisions of the Commission under this Act.

• Marginal note:Designation of inspectors

  (2) The Minister may designate any qualified person as an inspector for the purpose of verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with the provisions of this Act for which the Minister is responsible.

• Marginal note:Certificate

  (3) An inspector shall be provided with a certificate of designation, which certificate the inspector shall present at the request of any person appearing to be in charge of any place entered by the inspector.

• Marginal note:Powers of inspectors

  (4) An inspector may, subject to subsection (5), for the purposes for which the inspector was designated an inspector,

  • (a) enter, at any reasonable time, any place in which they believe on reasonable grounds there is any document, information or thing relevant to the purpose of verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with this Act or any special Act, and examine the document, information or thing or remove it for examination or reproduction;

  • (b) make use of, or cause to be made use of, any computer system at the place to examine any data contained in or available to the system;

  • (c) reproduce any document, or cause it to be reproduced, from the data in the form of a print-out or other intelligible output and take the print-out or other output for examination or copying; and

  • (d) use any copying equipment or means of communication in the place.

• Marginal note:Warrant required to enter dwelling-house

  (5) An inspector may not enter a dwelling-house without the consent of the occupant or under the authority of a warrant.

• Marginal note:Authority to issue warrant

  (6) On an ex parte application, a justice of the peace may issue a warrant authorizing an inspector who is named in the warrant to enter a dwelling-house, subject to any conditions spec­ified in the warrant, if the justice is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) the dwelling-house is a place described in paragraph (4)(a);

  • (b) entry to the dwelling-house is necessary for the purpose of verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with this Act or any special Act; and

  • (c) entry has been refused or there are reasonable grounds to believe that entry will be refused by, or that consent to entry cannot be obtained from, the occupant.

• Marginal note:Use of force

  (7) An inspector executing a warrant issued under subsection (6) shall not use force unless the inspector is accompanied by a peace officer and the use of force has been specifically authorized in the warrant.

• Marginal note:Assistance to inspectors

  (8) The owner or person in charge of a place entered by an inspector shall provide all assistance that is reasonably required to enable the inspector to perform their functions under this Part, and shall provide any information that is reasonably expected for that purpose.

• Marginal note:Information requirement

  (9) An inspector who believes that a person is in possession of information that the inspector considers necessary for the purpose of verifying compliance or preventing non-compliance with this Act or any special Act may, by notice, require that person to submit the information to the inspector in the form and manner and within the reasonable time that is stipulated in the notice.

• Marginal note:Obstruction, false information

  (10) No person shall

  • (a) resist or wilfully obstruct the inspector in carrying out his or her duties; or

  • (b) knowingly make a false or misleading statement, either orally or in writing, to the inspector.