# Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 (repealed 1.3.2000), Section 41: Disclosure of information.

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, no information with respect to any particular business which has been obtained under or by virtue of the provisions of this Act shall, so long as that business continues to be carried on, be disclosed without the consent of the person for the time being carrying on that business; but this subsection does not apply to any disclosure of information which is made—
(a) for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions of the Director, the Director General of Telecommunications,the Director General of Gas Supply,the Civil Aviation Authority,the Director General of Water Services,the Director General of Electricity Supplythe Director General of Electricity Supply for Northern Irelandor theDirector General of Gas for Northern Irelandthe Rail Regulatorthe Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board, the Coal Authority the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, the Secretary of State or any other Minister under this Act or the Fair Trading Act 1973 or the Estate Agents Act 1979or the Competition Act 1980or the Telecommunications Act 1984or Chapter XIV of Part I of the Financial Services Act 1986or the Gas Act 1986or the Airports Act 1986or the Water Act 1989the Water Industry Act 1991 or any of the other consolidation Acts (within the meaning of section 206 of that Act of 1991)or the Electricity Act 1989or the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992or the Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996or Part IV of the Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994or the Broadcasting Act 1990or the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988or the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990or the Railways Act 1993or the Coal Industry Act 1994or the EC Competition Law (Articles 88 and 89) Enforcement Regulations 1996;
(b) in pursuance of a Community obligation;
(c) for the purposes of any proceedings before the Court or of any other legal proceedings, whether civil or criminal, under this Act or the Fair Trading Act 1973 or the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) above shall be construed—
(a) as limiting the particulars which may be entered or filed in, or made public as part of, the register under this Act; or
(b) as applying to any information which has been made public as part of that register.
(3) Any person who discloses any information in contravention of this section is guilty of an offence and liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £400;
(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both.
(4) No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be commenced after the expiry of three years from the commission of the offence or one year from its discovery by the prosecutor whichever is the earlier.
(5) Notwithstanding anything in section 127(1) of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, a magistrates’ court may try an information for an offence under this section if the information was laid within twelve months from the commission of the offence.
(6) Notwithstanding anything in section 136 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, summary proceedings in Scotland for an offence under this section may be commenced within twelve months from the commission of the offence, and subsection (3) of the said section 136applies for the purposes of this subsection as it applies for the purposes of that section.
(7) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland, for the references in subsection (5) above to section 127(1) of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 and to the trial and laying of an information there shall be substituted respectively references to Article 19(1) of the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 and to the hearing and determination and making of a complaint.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/34/section/41 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/restrictive-trade-practices-act-1976-repealed-132000/section-41
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.