Fair Trading Act 1973

82 General provisions as to reports

(1) In making any report under this Act the Advisory Committee or the Commission shall have regard to the need for excluding, so far as that is practicable,—

(a) any matter which relates to the private affairs of an individual, where the publication of that matter would or might, in their opinion, seriously and prejudicially affect the interests of that individual, and

(b) any matter which relates specifically to the affairs of a particular body of persons, whether corporate or un-corporate, where publication of that matter would or might, in the opinion of the Advisory Committee or of the Commission, as the case may be, seriously and prejudicially affect the interests of that body, unless in their opinion the inclusion of that matter relating specifically to that body is necessary for the purposes of the report.

(2) For the purposes of the law relating to defamation, absolute privilege shall attach to any report of the Advisory Committee or of the Commission under this Act.

(3) Subject to the next following subsection, if—

(a) on a reference to the Advisory Committee under this Act, or

(b) on a reference to the Commission, other than a monopoly reference limited to the facts,

a member of the Advisory Committee or of the Commission, as the case may be, dissents from any conclusions contained in the report on the reference as being conclusions of the Committee or of the Commission, the report shall, if that member so desires, include a statement of his dissent and of his reasons for dissenting.

(4) In relation to a report made by a group of members of the Commission in pursuance of paragraph 10 or paragraph 11 of Schedule 3 to this Act, subsection (3) of this section shall have effect subject to paragraph 14(1) of that Schedule.