Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

HUMAN SERVICES (MEDICARE) ACT 1973 - SECT 8V

  (1)   Subject to subsection   (4), having entered the premises, the authorised officer may, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the relevant offence or relevant civil contravention is being committed, or has been committed within the previous 60 days, exercise any one or more of the following powers:

  (a)   to search the premises;

  (b)   to take photographs (including video recordings) or make sketches of the premises or any thing on the premises (other than a document);

  (c)   to inspect, examine and take samples of any thing on or in the premises that is a drug, medicine or substance that may be supplied as, or may be an ingredient of, a pharmaceutical benefit;

  (d)   to take extracts from any document, book, or record on the premises;

  (e)   to take on to the premises any equipment or material reasonably necessary for the purposes of exercising a power under paragraph   (a), (b), (c) or (d);

  (f)   in relation to certain documents or records on the premises, to exercise any one or more of the powers under subsections   (2) and (3).

  (2)   The authorised officer has power, under paragraph   (1)(f), to operate equipment at the premises to see whether:

  (a)   the equipment; or

  (b)   a disk, tape or other storage device that:

  (i)   is at the premises; and

  (ii)   can be used with or is associated with the equipment;

contains information that is relevant to determining whether the relevant offence or relevant civil contravention has been or is being committed.

  (3)   If the authorised officer, after operating equipment at the premises, finds that the equipment, or that a disk, tape or other storage device at the premises, contains information of that kind, he or she has power, under paragraph   (1)(f):

  (a)   to operate the facilities to put the information in documentary form and copy the documents so produced; or

  (b)   if the information can be transferred to a disk, tape or other storage device that:

  (i)   is brought to the premises; or

  (ii)   is at the premises and the use of which for the purpose has been agreed to in writing by the occupier of the premises;

    to operate the equipment or other facilities to copy the information to the storage device and remove the storage device from the premises.

  (4)   The powers under this section do not authorise any act in relation to a part of a record that is a part   containing clinical details relating to a patient.