2023 Maine Revised Statutes › TITLE 22: HEALTH AND WELFARE › Subtitle 2: HEALTH › Part 5: FOODS AND DRUGS › Chapter 562-A: PREPARATION OF LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY PRODUCTS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION › Subchapter 3: INSPECTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS › 22 §2519-B. Investigation; record keeping

§2519-B. Investigation; record keeping
1.  Investigation.
The commissioner may:
A. Gather and compile information and investigate the organization, business, conduct, practices and management of any person engaged in intrastate commerce and that person's business relationships; and   [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
B. Require, by general or special orders, persons engaged in intrastate commerce to file with the commissioner, in the form that the commissioner may prescribe, annual or special reports or answers in writing to specific questions. The person filing the reports or answers shall furnish the commissioner with any information the commissioner may require as to the organization, business, conduct, practices, management and relationship to other persons. The reports and answers must be made under oath or otherwise, as the commissioner may prescribe, and must be filed with the commissioner within a reasonable period, as the commissioner may prescribe, unless additional time is granted by the commissioner.   [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
[PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
2.  Access to evidence.
For the purpose of this chapter, the commissioner at all reasonable times has access to and the right to copy documentary evidence of a person being investigated or proceeded against. The commissioner may subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all documentary evidence of a person relating to a matter under investigation or subject to administrative hearing. The commissioner or the commissioner's designee may sign subpoenas, administer oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses and receive evidence.
A. The attendance of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence may be required at a designated place of hearing. In a case of disobedience to a subpoena, the commissioner may invoke the aid of the District Court or the Superior Court in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence.   [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
B. Upon the application of the Attorney General at the request of the commissioner, the Superior Court has jurisdiction to issue preliminary or permanent injunctions commanding a person to comply with this chapter or an order of the commissioner made pursuant to this chapter.   [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
C. The commissioner may order testimony to be taken by deposition in a proceeding or investigation pending under this chapter at any stage of the proceeding or investigation. The depositions may be taken before a person designated by the commissioner who has the power to administer oaths. The testimony must be reduced to writing by the person taking the deposition, or under that person's direction, and must be signed by the deponent. A person may be compelled to appear and depose and to produce documentary evidence in the same manner as witnesses may be compelled to appear and testify and produce documentary evidence before the commissioner as provided in this chapter.   [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
D. Witnesses summoned before the commissioner must be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the courts of this State. Witnesses whose depositions are taken and the persons taking the depositions are each entitled to the same fees as are paid for like services in the courts.   [PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
[PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
3.  Refusal to testify.
A person who neglects or refuses to attend and testify, to answer a lawful inquiry or to produce documentary evidence, if in that person's power to do so, in obedience to the subpoena or lawful requirement of the commissioner or the commissioner's designee commits a Class E crime.
[PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1999, c. 777, §1 (NEW).