Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 1976

52 Disclosure of information by Crown for purposes of investigation or proceedings

(1) Subject to subsection (2), any obligation to maintain secrecy or other restriction upon the disclosure of information obtained by or furnished to persons in the service of the Crown, whether imposed by any enactment or by any rule of law, shall not apply to the disclosure of information for the purposes of any investigation, appeal or proceedings under this Act; and the Crown shall not be entitled in relation to any such investigation, appeal or proceedings to any such privilege in respect of the production of documents or the giving of evidence as is allowed to the Crown alone by law in legal proceedings.

(2) A Minister of the Crown or the head of a Northern Ireland department may by a certificate in writing, with respect to any document or information specified in the certificate, or documents or information of any class so specified, certify that in his opinion the disclosure of that document or information or of documents or information of that class would be prejudicial to the safety of the United Kingdom or any part of it or otherwise contrary to the public interest; and where such a certificate is given nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorising or requiring the communication to any person or for any purpose of any document or information specified in the certificate, or any document or information of a class so specified.

(3) A document purporting to be a certificate such as is mentioned in subsection (2) shall be received in evidence and, unless the contrary is proved, shall be deemed to be such a certificate.

(4) Where, in consequence of the enactment of subsection (1), any information is disclosed to persons not in the service of the Crown, those persons shall, without prejudice to subsections (1) and (2) and subject to subsection (5), be subject to the same restrictions upon the disclosure of the information as if they were in that service, and, in particular, the [1911 c. 28.] Official Secrets Act 1911 shall have effect in relation to them as if they were persons holding office under Her Majesty.

(5) Where a person to whom subsection (4) applies is a member, officer or servant of the Agency or of the Appeals Board, or a person whose services have been made available for purposes of the Appeals Board, that subsection shall not preclude his disclosing the information in question to any other person so far as such disclosure is necessary—

(a) for the purpose of communicating in accordance with the provisions of this Act—

(i) the Agency's finding following an investigation and the reasons for it, or

(ii) the Appeals Board's decision on an appeal and the reasons for it; or

(b) for the purposes of any criminal proceedings or to comply with the order of a court.

(6) Any reference in subsection (2) to a Minister of the Crown includes a reference to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise and the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.