Section 50Sec./Art. 50

Section 171 of the NIRC, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 171. Authority of Internal Revenue Officer in Searching for and Testing Taxable Articles. - Any internal revenue officer may, in the discharge of his official duties, enter any house, building or place where articles subject to tax under this Title are produced or kept, or are believed by him upon reasonable grounds to be produced or kept, so far as may be necessary to examine, test, discover or seize the same.

"He may also stop and search any vehicle or other means of transportation when upon reasonable grounds he believes that the same carries any article on which the excise tax has not been paid.

"Subject to rules and regulations to be issued by the Secretary of Finance, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue or his authorized representatives may conduct periodic random field tests and confirmatory tests on fuel required to be marked under Section 148-A found in warehouses, storage tanks, gas stations and other retail outlets, and in such other properties of persons engaged in the sale, delivery, trading, transportation, distribution, or importation of fuel intended for the domestic market: Provided, "(a) Random field testing shall be conducted in the presence of revenue or customs officers, fuel marking provider, and the authorized representative of the owner of the fuel to be tested: Provided, That an employee assigned or working at the place where the random field tests conducted shall be deemed an authorized representative of the owner;

"(b) All field tests shall be properly filmed or video taped, and documented; and

"(c) A sample of the randomly tested fuel shall be immediately obtained by the revenue or customs officer upon discovering that the same unmarked, adulterated, or diluted:

"Provided, further, That confirmatory fuel test certificates issued by fuel testing facilities shall be valid for any legal purpose from the date of issue, and shall constitute admissible and conclusive evidence before any court."