Sections 103 - 105: Miscellaneous
163.Section 104: Specialist members of the Competition Commission. This section provides for the abolition of the Competition Commission's electricity panel and its replacement with a specialist gas and electricity panel. The Secretary of State will be responsible for appointing at least six specialist members of the Competition Commission for the purpose of the Commission's functions in relation to gas and electricity licence modification references or references relating to licensable activities. The chairman of the Commission will be obliged to select one or more of these specialist members to serve on any group carrying out such functions.
164.Section 105: General restrictions on disclosure of information. This section substantially reproduces, and replaces, the existing general restrictions (which differ in some respects from each other) on disclosure in section 42 of the 1986 Act, and section 57 of the 1989 Act. The new section provides that unauthorised disclosure of information obtained under the Act, or under Part I of the 1986 Act or Part I of the 1989 Act, is a criminal offence. It includes a number of exceptions, where disclosure is permitted. Generally these exceptions are for disclosures from one regulatory authority to another for the purpose of facilitating the performance of the other authority’s statutory functions.
