Singapore legislation
Section 34
Section 34
Power to enter premises
(1)
A police officer or an authorised officer may, after declaring his or her office and, in the case of an authorised officer who is not a police officer, after producing his or her identification card on demand being made —
enter without notice any premises owned or occupied by any person reasonably suspected of committing an offence under this Act; or
enter at any reasonable time without notice any premises owned or occupied by an exempt operator, for the purpose of investigating any contravention of Part 5 or any condition of its certificate of exemption which may result in any regulatory sanction under section 30 against the exempt operator.
(2)
A police officer or an authorised officer who enters any premises under subsection (1) may do all or any of the following:
search the premises and take possession of any thing found in there and reasonably believed to be connected to the commission of the offence or the contravention;
require the production of records and documents relating or reasonably believed to relate to the commission of the offence or the contravention, wherever and by whomsoever kept, and take and retain extracts or copies of those records and documents;
compel any person who is able to operate any equipment at the premises to do so for the purpose of enabling the police officer or authorised officer to ascertain whether the equipment, or a disk, tape or other storage device that can be used or associated with the equipment, contains information that is relevant to the investigation;
if such information is found in exercise of the power in paragraph (c) —
produce, or compel the production of, the information in documentary form, and keep or copy the documents so produced; or
transfer, or compel the transfer of, the information to a disk, tape or other storage device, and remove it from the premises.
(3)
Where a police officer or an authorised officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that there is, on any premises (including premises other than those referred to in subsection (1)), any record, document or information the production of which has been required under subsection (2) or section 33(1)(b), and —
which has not been produced in compliance with that requirement; or
which the police officer or authorised officer has reasonable grounds to believe will not be produced in compliance with that requirement,the police officer or authorised officer may apply to a Magistrate for the issue of a warrant to search the premises for such record, document or information.
(4)
Whenever it appears to a Magistrate, upon an application made under subsection (3), and after such enquiry as the Magistrate may think necessary, that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that there is, on any particular premises, any record, document or information the production of which has been required under subsection (2) or section 33(1)(b), and —
which has not been produced in compliance with that requirement; or
which the Magistrate has reasonable grounds to believe will not be produced in compliance with that requirement,the Magistrate may issue a warrant authorising the police officer or authorised officer or any person named in the warrant, with or without assistance —
to enter and search the premises and to break open and search anything, whether a fixture or not, in the premises; and
to take possession of, or secure against interference, any record or document, or equipment, disk, tape or other storage device containing information, that appears to be a record or document, or to contain information, the production of which was so required.
(5)
To avoid doubt, nothing in this section affects a police officer’s powers or duties under the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, and any other powers conferred on a police officer or an authorised officer under any other provision in this Act.