Explanatory note

This Order specifies certain persons for the purposes of section 38 of the Identity Cards Act 2006. Those persons are (a) the Registrar General for England and Wales, and (b) a credit reference agency with which the Secretary of State (acting through the Identity and Passport Service) has at the relevant time a contract for the supply of services relating to the provision of information concerning the identity of individuals. The relevant time is defined as meaning the time a requirement is imposed by the Secretary of State under the section.

Section 38 enables the Secretary of State to require a person who comes within subsection (3) to provide him with information which appears to him to be capable of being used either for verifying information provided to him for the purposes of, or in connection with, an application for the issue of a passport, or for determining whether to withdraw a person’s passport. The Secretary of State may only make such a requirement where it appears to him that the person in question may have such information in his possession. Persons listed in subsection (3) include any person who is specified for the purposes of the section in an order made by the Secretary of State. The effect of the specification therefore is that a person specified may be made subject to a requirement under section 38 to provide information.

Section 38(2) places a duty on a person who is required to provide information, and who has the information in his possession, to comply with the requirement. Article 3 of the Order provides that, in the case of a specified person, this duty is owed to the person imposing it. Article 4 provides for the means of enforcement of the duty.