Power to apply 1984 Act Provisions
215.The Act fills a gap in the powers available to officers of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when investigating criminal offences. It amends the Police and Criminal Evidence Act to give the Secretary of State the power to make an order applying the provisions of Schedule 1 to that Act so far as they relate to “special procedure” (e.g. material subject to confidentiality such as bank accounts) material for the purposes of investigations of “serious arrestable offences” (e.g. offences carrying a sentence of five years imprisonment or more such, as theft) by officers of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. At present, such officers have no statutory powers when carrying out criminal investigations and so are unable to gain access to material held in confidence such as bank accounts.
