Section 41 Disclosure of information.

United Kingdom

C1(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, F1the Director General of Telecommunications,F2the Director General of Gas Supply,F3the Civil Aviation Authority,F4the Director General of Water Services,F5the Director General of Electricity SupplyF6the Director General of Electricity Supply for Northern IrelandF7or theDirector General of Gas for Northern IrelandF8the Rail RegulatorF9the 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 M1Fair Trading Act 1973 F10or the M2Estate Agents Act 1979F11or the M3Competition Act 1980or the Telecommunications Act 1984F12or Chapter XIV of Part I of the Financial Services Act 1986or the Gas Act 1986or the Airports Act 1986or the Water Act 1989F13the Water Industry Act 1991 or any of the other consolidation Acts (within the meaning of section 206 of that Act of 1991)F14or the Electricity Act 1989or the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992or the Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996F15or Part IV of the Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994F16or the Broadcasting Act 1990F17or the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988F18or the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990F19or the Railways Act 1993or the Coal Industry Act 1994F20or 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 M4Fair Trading Act 1973 F21or 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 F22section 127(1) of the M5Magistrates’ 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 F23section 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 F24section 127(1) of the M6Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 and to the trial and laying of an information there shall be substituted respectively references to F25Article 19(1) of the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 and to the hearing and determination and making of a complaint.

Annotations

Notes on the whole Act

Textual amendments

F1: Act repealed (1.3.2000) by 1998 c. 41, ss. 1(b), 74(3), Sch. 14 Pt. I (with Sch. 13); S.I. 2000/344, art. 2, Sch.

Section 41 Disclosure of information.

Annotations

Textual amendments

Marginal citations

Modifications

Notes on the whole Act

Textual amendments