35. (1) The Commission may appoint in writing such and so many persons, including members of the staff of the Commission, to be authorised officers for the purposes of all or any of the relevant statutory provisions and such appointment may be specified to be for a fixed period.

(2) An authorised officer appointed under—

(a) section 30 of the Act of 2007, or

(b) section 45 of the Act of 2002,

and holding office immediately before the establishment day shall, on and after that day, be deemed to have been appointed under this section.

(3) Every authorised officer appointed under this section shall be furnished with a warrant of appointment which shall be issued by the Commission, and shall, when exercising any power conferred on him or her by any of the relevant statutory provisions if requested by a person affected, produce the warrant of appointment or copy of it to that person.

(4) An appointment under this section shall cease—

(a) if the Commission revokes the appointment,

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

(c) if the person appointed is a member of staff of the Commission, when that person ceases to be a member of staff of the Commission.

(5) An authorised officer, when exercising any powers conferred on an authorised officer by this Act, may be accompanied by such other authorised officers or members of An Garda Síochána or both as he or she considers necessary.

(6) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in subsection (5) affects the exercise by an authorised officer who is a member of An Garda Síochána of any power, which apart from that subsection, he or she could exercise by virtue of subsection (1) of section 36 or subsection (1) of section 37 or otherwise.

(7) A person who falsely represents himself or herself as an authorised officer shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.

(8) A person who—

(a) obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of a power under section 36 or 37,

(b) without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a request or requirement of an authorised officer under section 36 or 37, or

(c) in purported compliance with such a request or requirement gives information that is false or misleading in a material respect,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(9) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (8) shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or both.

(10) Where a member of An Garda Síochána is of the opinion that an offence under subsection (8)(a) is being or has been committed, then the member may arrest that person without warrant.

(11) In proceedings by way of summons for an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions in which the prosecutor is the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Commission, a document within the meaning of section 7(1) of the Courts Act 1964 may be served by an authorised officer.

(12) In—

(a) an action under section 14A or 15C of the Act of 2002,

(b) an investigation under Chapter 5 (inserted by section 83) of Part 3 of the Act of 2007, or

(c) proceedings for an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions,

the production to the court of a document purporting to be a warrant or other document whereby the Commission appointed, on a specified date, a person under this section to be an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act shall, without proof of any signature on it or that the signatory was the proper person to sign it, be sufficient evidence, until the contrary is proved, that the first-mentioned person is or, as the case may be, was at all material times (but not earlier than the date aforesaid) a person appointed under this section to be an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act.