National Security Act 2023

Supplementary provision U.K.

3 (1) A disclosure order does not confer the right to require a person—

(a) to answer any question,

(b) to provide any information, or

(c) to produce any document or other material,

which the person would be entitled to refuse to answer, provide or produce on grounds of legal professional privilege in proceedings in the High Court.

(2) But a lawyer may be required to provide the name and address of a client.

(3) A disclosure order does not confer the right to require a person to produce excluded material.

(4) A disclosure order has effect despite any restriction on the disclosure of information imposed by an enactment or otherwise.

(5) An appropriate officer may take copies of any documents produced in compliance with a requirement to produce them imposed under a disclosure order.

(6) The documents may be retained for so long as it is necessary to retain them (as opposed to a copy of them) in connection with the investigation for the purposes of which the order was made.

(7) But if an appropriate officer has reasonable grounds for believing that—

(a) the documents may need to be produced for the purposes of any legal proceedings, and

(b) they might otherwise be unavailable for those purposes,

they may be retained until the proceedings are concluded.

(8) An appropriate officer may retain documents under sub-paragraph (7) only if the officer is a senior officer or is authorised to do so by a senior officer.

Commencement Information

I1 Sch. 3 para. 3 not in force at Royal Assent, see 100(1)

I2 Sch. 3 para. 3 in force at 20.12.2023 by S.I. 2023/1272, reg. 2(a)