Section 56 Restriction on disclosure of information.

No information relating to any individual business, being information which has been obtained by, or on behalf of, any person for the purposes of functions of his under this Act, shall, without the previous consent in writing of the owner for the time being of that business, be published or disclosed otherwise than in connection with the execution, or for the purposes of, this Act F2or the Coal Industry Act 1994or of any regulation having effect by virtue of F3those Acts.

Nothing in the preceding subsection shall apply to any publication or disclosure of any information made for the purposes of any legal proceedings (including arbitrations) pursuant to this Act or the Coal Industry Act 1994, or of any criminal proceedings which may be taken whether pursuant to those Acts or otherwise, or for the purposes of any report of any such proceedings as aforesaid.

If any person publishes or discloses any information in contravention of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to both such imprisonment and such fine, or, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment and such fine.