Civil Aviation Act 1949

14 Information as to air transport undertakings and use of customs aerodromes

(1) His Majesty may by Order in Council make provision—

(a) for requiring any person—

(i) who carries on the business of carrying passengers or goods in aircraft for hire or reward on such journeys or classes of journeys (whether beginning and ending at the same point or at different points) as may be specified in the Order, or

(ii) who is the holder of a licence in respect of a customs aerodrome,

to furnish to such authorities as may be specified in the Order such information relating to the use of aircraft for the purpose of his said business and to the persons employed in connection with that use, or, as the case may be, relating to the use of the aerodrome and to the persons employed in aircraft arriving thereat or departing therefrom, as may be prescribed by the Order;

(b) for requiring the owner, or the pilot or other person in charge, of any aircraft arriving at, or departing from, any customs aerodrome to furnish to the holder of the licence in respect of that aerodrome such information as may be necessary to enable the holder of the said licence to comply with such of the provisions of the Order as relate to him;

(c) for prescribing the times at which, and the form and manner in which, any information required under the Order is to be furnished:

Provided that a person carrying on such a business as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not be required to furnish information relating to the use of aircraft on journeys wholly outside the United Kingdom, or relating to persons exclusively employed outside the United Kingdom, unless the person carrying on the business is either a British subject resident in the United Kingdom or a citizen of the Republic, of Ireland resident in the United Kingdom or a body corporate incorporated under the law of some part of the United Kingdom.

(2) An Order in Council under this section may provide for imposing on any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of the Order such penalties (not exceeding a fine of twenty pounds and a further fine of five pounds for every day on which the contravention or non-compliance continues after conviction therefor) as may be specified in the Order.

(3) No information with respect to any particular undertaking which has been obtained by virtue of an Order in Council under this section shall, without the consent of the person carrying on that undertaking, be disclosed otherwise than in connection with the execution of such an Order, and if any person discloses any such information in contravention of this subsection, 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 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.

Nothing in this subsection shall apply to the disclosure of any information for the purposes of any legal proceedings which may be taken by virtue of this subsection or of an Order in Council made under this section, or for the purpose of any report of any such proceedings, but, save as aforesaid, the restriction imposed by this subsection shall, in relation to any legal proceedings (including arbitrations), extend so as to prohibit and prevent any person who is in possession of any such information so obtained from disclosing, and from being required by any court or arbitrator to disclose, that information (whether as a witness or otherwise) except with the consent of the person carrying on the undertaking to which the information relates.

(4) In this section the expression "customs aerodrome" means an aerodrome for the time being appointed in pursuance of an Order in Council in force under section eight of this Act as a place of landing and departure of aircraft for the purposes of the enactments relating to customs.

(5) Part VI of this Act applies to this section.