11(1)The [F1Office of Rail and Road] may serve a notice under this paragraph on any person for the purpose of obtaining information which that Office needs for the carrying out of its safety functions.E+W+S
(2)A notice under this paragraph is one requiring the person on whom it is served—
(a)to provide the [F1Office of Rail and Road] with information about such matters as may be specified in the notice; and
(b)to do so in the form and manner so specified.
(3)The consent of the Secretary of State is required for the service of a notice under this paragraph.
(4)The consents that may be given for the purposes of sub-paragraph (3) include a general consent relating to notices of a specified description.
(5)Nothing in the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 (c. 39) is to be construed as preventing or penalising the disclosure by a Minister of the Crown or government department to—
(a)the [F1Office of Rail and Road],
(b)a member, officer or employee of that Office, or
(c)a committee established by that Office,
of information falling within sub-paragraph (6) about an undertaking (within the meaning of that Act).
(6)Information about an undertaking falls within this sub-paragraph if it consists of—
(a)the names and addresses of the persons carrying on the undertaking;
(b)the nature of the undertaking's activities;
(c)the number of persons of different descriptions who work in the undertaking;
(d)the addresses or places where activities of the undertaking are or were carried on;
(e)the nature of the activities carried on there; or
(f)the number of persons of different descriptions who work or worked in the undertaking there.
(7)A person to whom a disclosure that is authorised by sub-paragraph (5) is made must not use the information except for the purposes of the safety functions of the [F1Office of Rail and Road].
(8)It is an offence for a person—
(a)to contravene a requirement imposed by a notice under this paragraph; or
(b)to use information in contravention of sub-paragraph (7).
(9)A person guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (8) shall be liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;
(b)on conviction on indictment—
(i)in the case of an offence of contravening a notice, to a fine; and
(ii)in the case of an offence of using information in contravention of sub-paragraph (7), to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.
(10)Section 52 of the 1974 Act (meaning of “work” and related expressions) applies for the purposes of this paragraph as it applies for the purposes of Part 1 of that Act.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in Sch. 3 para. 11 substituted (16.10.2015) by The Office of Rail Regulation (Change of Name) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1682), reg. 1(2), Sch. para. 3(s)(vii)
Commencement Information
I1Sch. 3 para. 11 in force at 1.4.2006 by S.I. 2006/266, art. 2(2), Sch.