Commentary Complaints Sections 81 to 90: Information and investigation powers
245.Sections 81 to 83 confer information and investigation powers. The Payment Systems Regulator has the power to require the provision of information or documents which it thinks would help the Treasury in determining whether to designate a payment system, or which the Payment Systems Regulator requires in performing its functions under Part 5 of the Act (section 81). The Payment Systems Regulator also has the power to require a participant in a regulated payment system to provide a report on any matter relating to the person’s participation in the system, or to appoint a person other than a participant to provide this report (section 82). The Payment Systems Regulator can appoint one or more competent persons to investigate any aspect of the business of any participant in a regulated payment system, if the Payment Systems Regulator thinks that it is desirable to do so to advance any of its payment systems objectives. The Payment Systems Regulator can also appoint one or more competent persons to investigate circumstances that suggest a compliance failure may have taken place (section 83).
246.Sections 84 to 87 make general provision regarding notification requirements when a person is appointed to conduct an investigation, as well as provision conferring on investigators the power to require certain persons to give evidence, and provision concerning the admissibility as evidence of information provided pursuant to information requirements imposed by an investigator under the powers contained in sections 85 and 86.
247.Sections 88 to 90 provide for the enforcement of requirements to provide information or documents to the Payment Systems Regulator or any investigator. Under these provisions, a justice of the peace, if satisfied that certain conditions are met, may issue a warrant to permit the entry onto premises of a person who has failed to provide information required by the Payment Systems Regulator or an investigator (section 88). Section 88 sets out the powers of a constable under a warrant and provides that the warrant may authorise persons accompanying a constable to exercise these powers under the supervision of a constable. Section 90 provides that the court may in certain circumstances treat failures to comply with information requirements as contempt of court. Certain activities are criminalised, including the intentional falsification, concealment or destruction of relevant information, the intentional provision of false or misleading information and the obstruction of a person acting under a warrant.