Companies Act 2014 section 789

Offences in relation to entry and search of premises and provisions catering for certain contingencies concerning designated officers

Section 789 creates criminal offences for obstructing search warrants issued under the Companies Act and provides a mechanism for substituting a new designated officer on a search warrant when the original officer is no longer able to act.

• It is a category 2 offence to obstruct the exercise of a search warrant, including hindering entry, search, or the seizure of material information, or to give false or misleading personal details when required to identify yourself
• Where a designated officer named on a search warrant can no longer perform their duties — whether due to death, retirement, resignation, illness, reassignment, or any other reason — or where such circumstances are reasonably anticipated, another designated officer may apply to the District Court to be substituted onto the warrant
• On granting such an order, the District Court directs that the warrant be endorsed with the new officer's name and specifies when the substitution takes effect; from that point, the new officer has full authority to execute the warrant and assumes all outstanding duties, while the previous officer is relieved of their role without invalidating anything they had already done
• Even after a search warrant has expired, a designated officer may still apply to the District Court for a substitution order to transfer any remaining duties (such as obligations relating to seized material) to a new officer, though the power to execute the warrant itself cannot be conferred once it has lapsed