ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 1993 - SECT 88
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 1993 - SECT 88
88—Warrants other than special powers warrants
(1) Where, on the
application of an authorised officer, a magistrate is satisfied that there are
reasonable grounds to believe—
(a) that
a contravention of this Act has been, is being, or is about to be, committed
in or on a place or vehicle; or
(b) that
something may be found in or on a place or vehicle that has been used in, or
constitutes evidence of, a contravention of this Act; or
(c) that
site contamination may exist in a place or something may be found in a place
that constitutes evidence of a cause of site contamination,
the magistrate may issue a warrant in respect of the place or vehicle
authorising an authorised officer, with such assistants as he or she consider
necessary, to use reasonable force to break into or open any part of, or
anything in or on, the place or vehicle as specified in the warrant.
(2) An application for
the issue of a warrant may be made either personally or by telephone.
(3) The grounds of an
application for a warrant must be verified by affidavit.
(4) An application for
the issue of a warrant may not be made by telephone unless in the opinion of
the applicant a warrant is urgently required and there is insufficient time to
make the application personally.
(5) Where an
application for the issue of a warrant is made by telephone, the following
provisions apply:
(a) the
applicant must inform the magistrate of his or her name and identify himself
or herself as an authorised officer, and the magistrate, on receiving that
information, is entitled to assume, without further inquiry, that the
applicant is an authorised officer;
(b) the
applicant must inform the magistrate of the grounds on which he or she seeks
the issue of the warrant;
(c) if
it appears to the magistrate from the information furnished by the applicant
that there are proper grounds for the issue of a warrant, the magistrate must
inform the applicant of the facts on which he or she relies as grounds for the
issue of the warrant, and must not proceed to issue the warrant unless the
applicant undertakes to make an affidavit verifying those facts;
(d) if
the applicant gives such an undertaking, the magistrate may then make out and
sign a warrant, noting on the warrant the facts on which he or she relies as
grounds for the issue of the warrant;
(e) the
warrant will be taken to have been issued, and will come into force, when
signed by the magistrate;
(f) the
magistrate must inform the applicant of the terms of the warrant;
(g) the
applicant must, as soon as practicable after the issue of the warrant, forward
to the magistrate an affidavit verifying the facts referred to in
paragraph (c).
(6) A magistrate by
whom a warrant is issued must file the warrant, or a copy of the warrant, and
the affidavit verifying the grounds on which the application for the warrant
was made, in the Environment, Resources and Development Court.
(7) An
authorised officer who executes a warrant must, as soon as practicable after
execution of the warrant—
(a)
prepare a notice in the prescribed form containing—
(i)
his or her own name and a statement that he or she is an
authorised officer under this Act; and
(ii)
the name of the magistrate who issued the warrant and the
date and time of its issue; and
(iii)
a description of the place or vehicle to which the
warrant relates and of the authority conferred by the warrant; and
(b) give
the notice to the occupier or person apparently in charge of the place or
vehicle in respect of which the warrant was issued or leave it for him or her
in a prominent position on the place or vehicle.
(8) A warrant, if not
executed at the expiration of one month from the date of its issue, then
expires.
(9) This section does
not apply in relation to a special powers warrant issued under
section 88A.