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FOOD AND DRUGS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1958 - SECT 41



41.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, an authorised officer of a
[district council] shall, on producing, if so required, some duly
authenticated document showing his authority, have a right to enter any
premises at all reasonable hours

(a)for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is or has been on, or in
connection with, the premises any contravention of the provisions of this Act
or of any regulations or byelaws made thereunder, being provisions which the
[council] are required or empowered to enforce; and

(b)generally for the purpose of the performance by the [council] of their
functions under this Act, or any such regulations or byelaws.

(2) Admission to any premises used only as a private dwelling-house shall not
be demanded under sub-section (1) as of right unless twenty-four hours' notice
of the intended entry has been given to the occupier.

(3) If a justice of the peace, on sworn information in writing,

(a)is satisfied that there is reasonable ground for entry into any premises
for any such purpose as aforesaid; and

(b)is also satisfied either

(i)that admission to the premises has been refused, or a refusal is
apprehended and that notice of the intention to apply for a warrant has been
given to the occupier; or

(ii)that an application for admission, or the giving of such a notice, would
defeat the object of the entry, or that the case is one of urgency, or that
the premises are unoccupied or that the occupier is temporarily absent;

(4) An authorised officer entering any premises by virtue of this section, or
of a warrant issued thereunder, may take with him such other persons as may be
necessary, and on leaving any unoccupied premises which he has entered by
virtue of such a warrant shall leave them as effectively secured against
trespassers as he found them.

(5) Every warrant granted under this section shall continue in force for a
period of one month.

(6) If any person who, in compliance with the provisions of this section, or
of any warrant issued thereunder, is admitted into a factory or workplace,
discloses to any person any information obtained by him in the factory or
workplace with regard to any manufacturing process or trade secret, he shall,
unless the disclosure was made in the performance of his duty, be guilty of an
offence under this Act.

(7) Nothing in this section shall authorise any person, except with the
permission of the Ministry of Agriculture under the Diseases of Animals Act
(Northern Ireland), 1958, to enter any cowshed or other place in which an
animal affected, or suspected of being affected, with any disease to which
that Act applies is kept.


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© 1958 Crown Copyright

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