Enforcement powers Section 14: Inspections
Section 14 empowers an inspector appointed by the Secretary of State to board a ship in a harbour in the United Kingdom or enter any premises for the purposes of:
establishing whether a service is being operated consistently with an equivalence declaration,
establishing whether an equivalence declaration is false or misleading in so far as it concerns the operation of a service before the declaration was provided,
verifying any information provided under section 12,
establishing whether, or to what extent, a harbour authority is complying with its duties under the Act, or
verifying any information provided by a harbour authority under section 13.
	The powers of inspectors under this section include:
making such inspection as they consider necessary;
being accompanied by another person;
requiring a person to answer questions and sign a statement that their answers are true, at the time of the inspection or subsequently at a time specified by the inspector;
requiring the production of documents (including requiring provision of information held in electronic form in a legible format);
requiring a person to provide facilities and assistance to the inspector, where that is in that person’s control.
	It is an offence for a person to intentionally obstruct an inspector in the exercise of their powers; to fail without reasonable excuse to comply with a requirement imposed by this section, or to prevent another person from complying with such a requirement; or to make a statement which the person knows is false or misleading, or to recklessly make such a statement, in purported compliance with a requirement imposed under this section. Such an offence is punishable on summary conviction by a fine in England and Wales, or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale in Scotland and Northern Ireland.