Section 36: Enforcement by High Court or Court of Session
87.This section provides for an appropriate court (the High Court or Court of Session) to enforce notices issued under powers of compulsion, restriction notices and any orders of the inquiry, including restriction orders. Where a person breaches a notice or order, or threatens to do so, the chairman of the inquiry (or the Minister, after the end of the inquiry) can certify the matter to the court, which can then take steps to enforce the order. This is similar to the mechanism that would have been used to enforce orders issued under the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921.
88.In the case of notices issued under powers of compulsion in section 21, enforcement by the appropriate court is an alternative mechanism to prosecution, and could be used in cases where a prosecution might not be the best method of obtaining the relevant evidence. However, the court could also be asked to enforce a wider range of orders, for example, to prevent someone revealing the name of a witness whose identity was covered by a restriction order. This example could occur after the end of an inquiry, when the chairman is no longer in a position to certify the matter to the court, so section 36 provides for the Minister to certify matters to the court after the end of the inquiry.
