General provisions about references and investigations

C2C3C4C516 General provisions as to reports. C1

1

In making any report under this Act the Commission or the Director 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 the opinion of the Commission or the Director, as the case may be, seriously and prejudicially affect the interests of that individual, and

b

any matter which relates specifically to the affairs of a body of persons, whether corporate or unincorporate, where publication of that matter would or might, in the opinion of the Commission or the Director, as the case may be, seriously and prejudicially affect the interests of that body, unless in the opinion of the Commission or the Director, as the case may be, 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 Commission or of the Director under this Act.

F13

For the purposes of this section, the publication by the Director of a notice under section 4(2)(a) above shall be treated as the making by him of a report under this Act.

17 Laying before Parliament and publication of reports.

1

Subject to subsection (2) below, the Secretary of State shall lay a copy of any report made to him under section 8(1), 11(10) or 13(5) above before each House of Parliament and shall arrange for the report to be published in such manner as appears to him appropriate.

2

The Secretary of State shall not lay a copy of a report made to him under section 8(1) or 11(10) above before either House of Parliament unless at least twenty-four hours before doing so he has transmitted to every person specified in the reference a copy of the report in the form in which it is laid (or by virtue of subsection (3) below is treated as being laid) before each House of Parliament.

3

If a report made to him under section 8(1), 11(10) or 13(5) above is presented by command of Her Majesty to either House of Parliament otherwise than at or during the time of a sitting of that House, the presentation of the report shall for the purposes of this section be treated as the laying of a copy of it before that House by the Secretary of State.

4

If it appears to the Secretary of State that the publication of any matter in a report made to him under section 8(1), 11(10) or 13(5) above would be against the public interest, he shall exclude that matter from the copies of the report as laid before Parliament and from the report as published under this section.

5

Without prejudice to subsection (4) above, if the Secretary of State considers that it would not be in the public interest to disclose—

a

any matter contained in a report made to him under section 8(1), 11(10) or 13(5) above relating to the private affairs of an individual whose interests would, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, be seriously and prejudicially affected by the publication of that matter, or

b

any matter contained in such a report relating specifically to the affairs of a particular person whose interests would, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, be seriously and prejudicially affected by the publication of that matter,

the Secretary of State shall exclude that matter from the copies of the report as laid before Parliament and from the report as published by virtue of subsection (1) above.

6

Any reference in sections 9, 10 or 12 above to a report of the Commission shall be construed as a reference to the report in the form in which copies of it are laid (or by virtue of subsection (3) of this section are treated as having been laid) before each House of Parliament under this section.

18 Information and advice about operation of Act.

The Director shall arrange for the dissemination in such form and manner as he considers appropriate of such information and advice as it may appear to him expedient to give the public in the United Kingdom about the operation of this Act.

C7C819 Restriction on disclosure of information. C6

C91

Subject to subsection (2) below, no information obtained under or by virtue of the preceding provisions of this Act about any business shall, so long as the business continues to be carried on, be disclosed without the consent of the person for the time being carrying it on.

2

Subsection (1) above does not apply to any disclosure of information made—

a

for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions under this Act or any of the enactments F2or subordinate legislationspecified in subsection (3) below of any Minister, any Northern Ireland department, the head of any such department, the Director F3the Director General of Telecommunications,F4the Director General of Gas Supply,F5the Civil Aviation Authority,F6the Director General of Water Services,F7the Director General of Electricity Supply, F8the Director General of Electricity Supply for Northern IrelandF9the Rail RegulatorF10the Coal Authority,,the Commission or a local weights and measures authority in Great Britain; or

b

in connection with the investigation of any criminal offence or for the purposes of any criminal proceedings; or

c

for the purposes of any civil proceedings brought under or by virtue of this Act or any of the enactments F11or subordinate legislationspecified in subsection (3) below; or

d

in pursuance of a Community obligation.

3

The enactments F12and subordinate legislationreferred to in subsection (2) above are—

a

the M1Trade Descriptions Act 1968;

b

the M2Fair Trading Act 1973;

c

the M3Consumer Credit Act 1974;

d

the M4Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976;

e

the M5Resale Prices Act 1976;. . . F13

f

the M6Estate Agents Act 1979.

F14g

the Telecommunications Act 1984.

F15h

the Gas Act 1986.

F16h

Chapter XIV of Part I of the Financial Services Act 1986

F17i

the Airports Act 1986.

F18j

the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

F19k

the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988

F20k

the Consumer Protection (Northern Ireland) Order 1987.

F21l

the Water Act 1989.F22the Water Industry Act 1991 or any of the other consolidation Acts (within the meaning of section 206 of that Act of 1991)

F23m

the Electricity Act 1989.

F24n

the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992

F25n

the Broadcasting Act 1990

F26o

the Railways Act 1993

F27p

the Coal Industry Act 1994;

C104

For the purpose of enabling information obtained under certain enactments to be used for facilitating the performance of functions under this Act, the following amendments shall be made in provisions respecting disclosure of information, namely—

a

at the end of paragraph (aa) of the proviso to section 47(2) of the M7Agricultural Marketing Act 1958 there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980” ;

F28b

at the end of paragraph (aaa) of section 23(2) of the M8Agricultural Marketing Act (Northern Ireland) Act 1964 there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980” ;

c

at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 133 of the Fair Trading Act 1973 there shall be added the words “the Competition Act 1980, or” ;

d

in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 174 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 after the words “Estate Agents Act 1979” there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980” ;

e

at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 41 of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980” ; and

f

in paragraph (a) of subsection 10 of the M9Estate Agents Act 1979 after the words “Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976” there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980”.

5

Nothing in subsection (1) above shall be construed—

a

as limiting the matters which may be included in any report of the Director or of the Commission made under this Act F29or in anything published under section 4(2)(a) above; or

b

as applying to any information which has been made public as part of such a report or as part of the register kept for the purposes of the Act of 1976.

6

Any person who discloses information in contravention of this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or both.

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