(1) In this section―

["assurance company" means―

(a) an assurance company within the meaning of section 3 of the Insurance Act 1936, or

(b) a person that holds an authorisation within the meaning of the European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994 (S.I. No. 360 of 1994);]¹

"authorised officer" means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners who is authorised by them in writing to exercise the powers conferred by this section;

"policy" and "premium" have the same meanings, respectively, as in section 3 of the Insurance Act 1936;

"relevant records", in relation to a policy, means any document or any other written or printed material in any form, and includes any information stored, maintained or preserved by means of any mechanical, photographic or electronic device whether or not stored, maintained or preserved in a legible form, but does not include so much of any record that is of a medical nature.

(2) A Revenue Commissioner may, subject to subsection (3) and for the purposes of subsection (7), direct an authorised officer to investigate a class or classes of policies issued by an assurance company and the policyholders to whom they were issued.

(3) Directions may be given by a Revenue Commissioner under subsection (2) where he or she forms the opinion that there are circumstances suggesting that a class of policy or classes of policies issued by an assurance company may have been issued to policyholders, some of whom have paid one or more than one premium in respect of any policy concerned out of income or gains which were required to be, but were not, included in a return made by those policyholders under the Tax Acts or the Capital Gains Tax Acts; and for the purposes of this subsection the Revenue Commissioner may take into consideration information in relation to policies issued by other assurance companies and the policyholders of such policies.

(4) An authorised officer, when investigating a class or classes of policies and the policyholders to whom they were issued, may at all reasonable times, enter any premises or place of business of an assurance company to inspect the relevant records held by the assurance company in respect of a sample of policies of that class or those classes and the policy holders of those policies.

(5) Where an authorised officer has entered any premises or place of business of an assurance company for the purposes of this section, he or she may require the assurance company, or any employee of the assurance company, to produce the relevant records in a form which is legible and to furnish such information and explanations as the authorised officer requires in relation to the relevant records.

(6) Where in accordance with this section an authorised officer inspects relevant records he or she may copy or make extracts from those records.

(7) Information obtained by an authorised officer from inspecting relevant records may only be used for the purposes of enabling an authorised officer, within the meaning of section 902A, to make an application under that section to a judge of the High Court.