3Offences
(1)A relevant person must not disclose without lawful authority any information supplied to him or another relevant person under section 1.
(2)A person—
(a)who is or who has been employed by a relevant person,
(b)who is or who has been engaged—
(i)in the provision of services to a relevant person in connection with the carrying out of a switchover help function, or
(ii)to carry out any switchover help function, or to carry out any function in connection with the carrying out of a switchover help function, or
(c)who is or who has been employed by, or who is or who has been engaged in the provision of services to, or to carry out a function for, a person mentioned in paragraph (b),
must not disclose without lawful authority information supplied to a relevant person under section 1.
(3)A person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) commits an offence.
(4)It is not an offence under this section—
(a)to disclose information in the form of a summary or collection of information so framed as not to enable information supplied under section 1 relating to any particular person to be ascertained from it; or
(b)to disclose information which has previously been disclosed to the public with lawful authority.
(5)It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that at the time of the alleged offence he believed—
(a)that he was making the disclosure in question with lawful authority, or
(b)that the information in question had previously been disclosed to the public with lawful authority,
and that he had no reasonable cause to believe otherwise.
(6)For the purposes of this section, a disclosure is to be regarded as made with lawful authority if, but only if, it is made—
(a)for the purpose of carrying out a switchover help function, or for doing anything connected with the carrying out of a switchover help function;
(b)in accordance with any enactment or court order;
(c)for the purpose of instituting, or otherwise for the purposes of, proceedings before a court; or
(d)with the consent of the person to whom the information relates or of any person authorised to act on that person’s behalf.
(7)A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—
(a)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to a fine, or both; or
(b)on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or both.
(8)In the application of this section—
(a)in England and Wales, in relation to an offence committed before the commencement of section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44),
(b)in Scotland, until the commencement of section 45(1) of the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 6), or
(c)in Northern Ireland,
the reference in subsection (7)(b) to 12 months is to be read as a reference to 6 months.