22Search warrants

#### 22 Search warrants (1) An eligible person may apply to an issuing officer for the issue of a warrant under subsection (2) if: (a) the eligible person has reasonable grounds for suspecting that, on a particular day (in this section referred to as the relevant day), being the day on which, or a particular day within one month after the day on which, the application is made, there may be, upon any land or upon or in any premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle, a thing or things of a particular kind connected with a special ACC operation/investigation (in this section referred to as things of the relevant kind); and (b) the eligible person believes on reasonable grounds that, if a summons were issued for the production of the thing or things, the thing or things might be concealed, lost, mutilated or destroyed. (2) Where an application under subsection (1) is made to an issuing officer, the issuing officer may issue a warrant authorizing a member of the Australian Federal Police or of the Police Force of a State, or any other person, named in the warrant, with such assistance as he or she thinks necessary and if necessary by force: (a) to enter upon the land or upon or into the premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle; (b) to search the land, premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle for things of the relevant kind; and (c) to seize any things of the relevant kind found upon the land or upon or in the premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle and deliver things so seized to any person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation. (3) An issuing officer shall not issue a warrant under subsection (2) unless: (a) an affidavit has been furnished to him or her setting out the grounds on which the issue of the warrant is being sought; (b) the applicant (or some other person) has given to the issuing officer, either orally or by affidavit, such further information (if any) as the issuing officer requires concerning the grounds on which the issue of the warrant is being sought; and (c) the issuing officer is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for issuing the warrant. (4) Where an issuing officer issues a warrant under subsection (2), he or she shall state on the affidavit furnished to him or her as mentioned in paragraph (3)(a) which of the grounds specified in that affidavit he or she has relied on to justify the issue of the warrant and particulars of any other grounds relied on by him or her to justify the issue of the warrant. (5) A warrant issued under this section shall: (a) include a statement of the purpose for which the warrant is issued, which shall include a reference to the special ACC operation/investigation and with which the things of the relevant kind are connected; (b) state whether entry is authorized to be made at any time of the day or night or during specified hours of the day or night; (c) include a description of the kind of things authorized to be seized; and (d) specify a date, not being later than one month after the date of issue of the warrant, upon which the warrant ceases to have effect. (6) A warrant issued under this section may be executed, in accordance with its terms, at any time during the period commencing on the relevant day and ending on the date specified in the warrant as the date upon which the warrant ceases to have effect. (6A) A person executing a warrant issued under this section may only use such reasonable force as is necessary for the execution. (7) Where, in the course of searching, in accordance with the terms of a warrant issued under this section, for things of the relevant kind, the person executing the warrant finds a thing that he or she believes on reasonable grounds to be evidence that would be admissible in the prosecution of a person for an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, of a State or of a Territory, and he or she believes on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to seize the thing in order to prevent its concealment, loss, mutilation or destruction, or its use in committing such an offence, the person may seize the thing and, if he or she does so, the thing shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to have been seized pursuant to the warrant. (10) Nothing in this section affects a right of a person to apply for, or the power of a person to issue, a warrant, being a right or power existing otherwise than by virtue of this section. (11) In this section: > thing includes a document. (13) Without limiting the generality of paragraph (1)(a), a reference in this section to a thing connected with a special ACC operation/investigation, includes a reference to a thing that may be used in evidence in proceedings for the taking, by or on behalf of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth, of a State or of a Territory, of civil remedies in respect of a matter connected with, or arising out of, an offence to which the special ACC operation/investigation relates. (14) A function of issuing a warrant conferred on an issuing officer by this section is conferred on the issuing officer in a personal capacity and not as a court or a member of a court. The issuing officer need not accept the function conferred. (15) Without limiting the generality of subsection (14), the issue of a warrant has effect only by virtue of this Act and is not to be taken by implication to be made by a court. (16) An issuing officer performing a function of, or connected with, issuing a warrant under this section has the same protection and immunity as if he or she were performing that function as, or as a member of, a court (being the court of which the issuing officer is a member).