F78[48. (1) The Health Service Executive shall appoint such one or more persons, as it considers appropriate, to be an authorised officer or authorised officers for the purposes of F79[this Act, the Act of 2015 and the Act of 2023].

(2) A person appointed to be an authorised officer under this section shall, on his or her appointment, be furnished by the Health Service Executive with a warrant of his or her appointment, and when exercising a power conferred by this Act shall, if requested by any person thereby affected, produce such warrant to that person for inspection.

(3) An appointment under this section as an authorised officer shall cease—

(a) if the Health Service Executive revokes the appointment,

(b) if the appointment is for a fixed period, on expiry of that period, or

(c) in the case of a person who is a member of staff of the Health Service Executive, if he or she ceases to be a member of staff.

F79[(4) For the purposes of this Act, the Act of 2015 and the Act of 2023, an authorised officer may—

(a) subject to subsection (6), enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force), at all reasonable times, any premises at which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that—

(i) any trade, business or activity connected with the manufacture, processing, disposal, export, import, distribution, sale, storage, packaging, labelling or retail packaging of a tobacco product or a nicotine inhaling product is or has been carried on, or

(ii) books, records or other documents (including documents stored in non-legible form) relating to such trade, business or activity are kept,

(b) at all reasonable times enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force) any specified place,

(c) at such premises inspect and take copies of, any labels, retail packaging of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products, books, records, other documents (including documents stored in non legible form) or extracts therefrom, which he or she finds in the course of his or her inspection,

(d) remove any such labels, retail packaging, books, records or documents from such premises and detain them for such period as he or she reasonably considers to be necessary for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023,

(e) carry out, or have carried out, such examinations, tests, inspections and checks of—

(i) the premises,

(ii) any tobacco product or nicotine inhaling product, retail packaging of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products or any article or substance used in the manufacture, processing, labelling, retail packaging or storage of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products, at the premises, or

(iii) any equipment, machinery or plant at the premises,

as he or she reasonably considers to be necessary for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023,

(f) require any person at the premises or the owner or person in charge of the premises and any person employed there to give to him or her such assistance and information and to produce to him or her such labels, retail packaging of tobacco products, retail packaging of nicotine inhaling products, tobacco products, nicotine inhaling products, books, documents or other records (and in the case of documents or records stored in non-legible form, produce to him or her a legible reproduction thereof) that are in that person’s power or procurement, as he or she may reasonably require for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023,

(g) take samples of any tobacco product, nicotine inhaling product, retail packaging of tobacco products or retail packaging of nicotine inhaling products or any article or substance used in the manufacture, processing, labelling, retail packaging or storage of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products found at the premises for the purposes of analysis and examination,

(h) direct that such tobacco products, nicotine inhaling products or retail packaging of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products found at the premises as he or she, upon reasonable grounds, believes contravene a provision of this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023 not be sold or distributed or moved from the premises, without his or her consent,

(i) secure for later inspection any premises or part of any premises in which a tobacco product, nicotine inhaling product, retail packaging of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products, substance or article used in the manufacture, processing, labelling, retail packaging or storage of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products is found or ordinarily kept, or records, labels, retail packaging of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products, tobacco products, nicotine inhaling products, books or documents are found or ordinarily kept, for such period as may reasonably be necessary for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023, or

(j) take possession of and remove from the premises for examination and analysis any tobacco product, nicotine inhaling products, retail packaging of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products or any substance or article used in the manufacture, processing, labelling, retail packaging or storage of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products found there, and detain them for such period as he or she considers reasonably necessary for the purposes of his or her functions under this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023.]

F80[(4A) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of obtaining any information which may be required in relation to a matter under investigation under this Act, the Act or 2015 or the Act of 2023, at all reasonable times—

(a) pay or make tender of payment for a tobacco product or nicotine inhaling product, as the case may be, or

(b) confirm any other information in relation to a tobacco product or nicotine inhaling product, as the case may be, for the purposes of the investigation.]

(5) When performing a function under F79[this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023], an authorised officer may, subject to any warrant under subsection (7), be accompanied by such number of authorised officers, members of the Garda Síochána or officers of the Revenue Commissioners as he or she considers appropriate.

(6) An authorised officer shall not enter a dwelling, other than—

(a) with the consent of the occupier, or

(b) in accordance with a warrant issued under subsection (7).

(7) Upon the application of an authorised officer, a judge of the District Court may, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that—

F79[(a) a tobacco product, nicotine inhaling product, retail packaging of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products or any substance or article used in the manufacture, processing, labelling, retail packaging or storage of a tobacco product or nicotine inhaling product is to be found in any dwelling or premises, or is being or has been subjected to any process or stored in any dwelling or premises,]

(b) labels, books, records or other documents (including documents stored in non-legible form) referred to in subsection (4)(a)(ii) are being stored or kept in any dwelling or premises, or

(c) a dwelling is occupied in whole or in part by an undertaking engaged in any trade, business or activity referred to in subsection (4)(a)(i),

issue a warrant authorising a named authorised officer accompanied by such other authorised officers, members of the Garda Síochána or officers of the Revenue Commissioners as may be necessary, at any time or times, within one month of the date of issue of the warrant, to enter the dwelling or premises (as the case may be) and perform the functions of an authorised officer under paragraphs (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i) and (j) of subsection (4).

(8) Any person who obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer, a member of the Garda Síochána or officers of the Revenue Commissioners in the course of exercising a power conferred on him or her by this Act or a warrant under subsection (7) or impedes the exercise by the officer or member, as the case may be, of such power or fails or refuses to comply with a request or requirement of, or to answer a question asked by, the officer or member pursuant to this section, or in purported compliance with such request or requirement or in answer to such question gives information to the officer or member that he or she knows to be false or misleading in any material respect, shall be guilty of an offence.

(9) Where an authorised officer, upon reasonable grounds, believes that a person has committed an offence under F79[this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023], he or she may require that person to provide him or her with his or her name and the address at which he or she ordinarily resides and, if the authorised officer thinks it necessary, to produce corroborative evidence of his or her name and address.

F79[(10) Where an authorised officer has—

(a) directed pursuant to subsection (4)(h) that tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products or retail packaging of tobacco products not be sold, distributed or moved, or

(b) taken possession of and removed pursuant to subsection (4)(j) any tobacco product or nicotine inhaling products or retail packaging of tobacco products,

he or she may apply to the District Court for an order that any such tobacco product or nicotine inhaling product or retail packaging be destroyed, and the judge of the District Court may grant such an order if he or she is satisfied that such product or retail packaging contravenes a provision of this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023.]

(11) A statement or admission made by a person pursuant to a requirement under subsection (4)(f) shall not be admissible as evidence in proceedings brought against that person for an offence (other than an offence under subsection (8)).

(12) A person who falsely represents himself or herself to be an authorised officer shall be guilty of an offence.

(13) The costs (including ancillary costs) of any possession, detention or destruction carried out by the Health Service Executive under subsections (4) and (10) shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction from a person convicted of an offence under F79[this Act, the Act of 2015 or the Act of 2023].

(14) In this section—

F79["premises" means any place, ship or other vessel, aircraft, railway wagon or other vehicle, and includes a container used to transport tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products or retail packaging of tobacco products or any article or substance used in the manufacture, processing or storage of tobacco products or nicotine inhaling products or retail packaging of tobacco products;]

“record” includes, in addition to a record in writing—

(a) a disc, tape, sound-track or other device in which information, sounds or signals are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being reproduced in legible or audible form,

(b) a film, tape or other device in which visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being reproduced in visual form, and

(c) a photograph,

and any reference to a copy of a record includes—

(i) in the case of a record to which paragraph (a) applies, a transcript of the sounds or signals embodied therein,

(ii) in the case of a record to which paragraph (b) applies, a still reproduction of the images embodied therein, and

(iii) in the case of a record to which paragraphs (a) and (b) apply, such a transcript together with such a still reproduction;

“retail packaging” has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Act of 2015;

“tobacco product” includes a tobacco product within the meaning of section 2 of the Act of 2015.]