New South Wales Consolidated Acts

STOCK MEDICINES ACT 1989 - SECT 50

50 Powers of inspectors

(1) Any inspector may, with or without assistance, do any one or more of the following:

(a) enter and search any land, building, premises or place which the inspector has reasonable grounds for believing is used for the preparation, manufacture, sale, storage, delivery or preparation for sale of any stock medicine,

(b) enter and search any vehicle, ship, aeroplane or other means of transport which the inspector has reasonable grounds for believing is used for transporting a stock medicine in the course of trade, sale or delivery,

(b1) require the production of any record or document required to be kept under this Act, the regulations or a permit, order or authority in force under this Act,

(b2) examine any such records or documents, make copies of them or any part of them and, for that purpose, take away and retain them or any part of them for such time as may be reasonably necessary,

(c) examine any stock medicine which the inspector has found and open any package containing any such stock medicine,

(d) take for analysis or examination prescribed samples of any such stock medicine without payment,

(e) seize, or seize and remove, any substance or article that the inspector believes on reasonable grounds to be a stock medicine and any container in which the substance or article is being kept or conveyed if the inspector suspects on reasonable grounds that there has been a contravention of this Act, the regulations, or a permit, order or authority in force under this Act in respect of the substance or article,

(e1) seize, or seize and remove, any tag that an inspector believes on reasonable grounds is being used in contravention of an order by the Director-General under this Act,

(f) give directions for or with respect to the detention of any substance, article or container that has been removed under paragraph (e),

(g) direct the occupier of any place where any such substance or article is seized, or the owner of the substance or article, to retain it in that place, or in a place under the control of the occupier or owner that will, in the opinion of the inspector, least endanger the health of the public, any person or animals or least endanger the environment,

(g1) despite section 52, give directions for the return to the manufacturer or supplier of any substance, article or container seized under paragraph (e),

(h) with the consent of the Minister, and at the expense of the owner of the stock medicine, destroy or render harmless, or give directions for the destruction or rendering harmless of, any stock medicine if:

(i) the inspector believes on reasonable grounds that it is necessary in the interest of the health of the public, any person or animals or in the interest of the environment, or

(ii) the owner of the stock medicine authorises the inspector in writing so to do,

(i) exercise the power conferred on him or her by paragraph (h) without the consent of the Minister where imminent danger to the health of the public, any person or animals, or to the environment, exists.

(3) The regulations may restrict the quantity or nature of samples of a stock medicine that may be taken by an inspector for analysis.

(4) If any inspector takes a sample of any stock medicine for analysis, the inspector is to:

(a) immediately divide the sample into 3 approximately equal parts and seal or fasten each part in a package (unless the stock medicine is already in packages, in which case the inspector may instead take 3 packages), and

(b) attach to each part or package a label stating the name (so far as it is known to the inspector) of the occupier of the place at which the sample is taken (or any person apparently in occupation of the place), or of the person apparently having possession, custody or control of the stock medicine from which the sample was taken, and the time and place at which the sample was taken, and

(c) sign the label on each package and give each package to the person named on the label to sign it also, and

(d) give one of the packages to that person, keep one of the packages and deliver the remaining package to an analyst for analysis of the sample.

(5) The inspector is to deliver the package containing the sample for analysis to the analyst personally or in such other way as may be prescribed.

(6) The package kept by the inspector is to be dealt with as prescribed.

(7) In this section, references to a stock medicine include references to substances that may reasonably be suspected to be stock medicines.