Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

(1)
A person on whom there is or may be conferred under a provision in any
                Ordinance, being a provision to which
section 83
applies, the power to
                enter any premises and to search the premises or any person found on the premises or
                to seize any material, may apply to a judge of the Court of First Instance or
                District Court for an order under subsection (2) in relation to material which is
                known or suspected to be journalistic material.
(Amended
26 of 1998 s. 33
)
(2)
If on an application under subsection (1) a judge is satisfied that the
                conditions in subsection (3) are fulfilled he may make an order that the person who
                appears to be in possession of journalistic material specified in the application
shall—
(a)
produce it to the applicant to take away; or
(b)
give the applicant access to it,
not later than the end of the period of 7 days from the date of the order or
                the end of such longer period as the order may specify.
(3)
The conditions to be fulfilled for the purposes of subsection (2) are
that—
(a)
there are reasonable grounds for
believing—
(i)
that an arrestable offence has been committed;
(ii)
that there is material which consists of or includes material known or
                        suspected to be journalistic material on premises specified in the
                        application;
(iii)
that the material is likely to
be—
(A)
of substantial value to the investigation of the arrestable
                            offence; or
(B)
relevant evidence in proceedings for the arrestable
                            offence;
(b)
but for
section 83
the applicant would be or could have been
                    authorized under the provision mentioned in subsection (1) to enter onto the
                    premises specified in the application and to search the premises or a person
                    found on the premises or to seize the material specified in the
                    application;
(c)
other methods of obtaining the
material—
(i)
have been tried and failed; or
(ii)
have not been tried because they were unlikely to succeed or would be
                        likely to seriously prejudice the investigation; and
(d)
there are reasonable grounds for believing that it is in the public interest
                    that an order should be granted, having regard
to—
(i)
the benefit likely to accrue to the investigation; and
(ii)
the circumstances under which a person in possession of the material
                        holds it.
(4)
An application for an order under subsection (2) shall be made inter
                partes.
(5)
Any person who without reasonable cause fails to comply with an order made
                under subsection (2) commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 6 and to
                imprisonment for 1 year.