for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions under this Act or any of the enactments F1or subordinate legislationspecified in subsection (3) below of any Minister, any Northern Ireland department, the head of any such department, the Director F2the Director General of Telecommunications,F3the Director General of Gas Supply,F4the Civil Aviation Authority,F5the Director General of Water Services,F6the Director General of Electricity Supply, F7the Director General of Electricity Supply for Northern IrelandF8or the Director General of Gas for Northern IrelandF9the Rail RegulatorF10the Coal Authority,the Commission or a local weights and measures authority in Great Britain; or

in connection with the investigation of any criminal offence or for the purposes of any criminal proceedings; or

for the purposes of any civil proceedings brought under or by virtue of this Act or any of the enactments F11or subordinate legislationspecified in subsection (3) below; or

in pursuance of a Community obligation.

the M1Trade Descriptions Act 1968;

the M2Fair Trading Act 1973;

the M3Consumer Credit Act 1974;

the M4Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976;

the M5Resale Prices Act 1976;. . . F13

the M6Estate Agents Act 1979.

the Telecommunications Act 1984.

the Gas Act 1986.

Chapter XIV of Part I of the Financial Services Act 1986

the Airports Act 1986.

the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988

the Consumer Protection (Northern Ireland) Order 1987.

the Water Act 1989.F22the Water Industry Act 1991 or any of the other consolidation Acts (within the meaning of section 206 of that Act of 1991)

the Electricity Act 1989.

the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992

the Broadcasting Act 1990

the Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996;

Part IV of the Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994;

the Railways Act 1993

the Coal Industry Act 1994;

at the end of paragraph (aa) of the proviso to section 47(2) of the M7Agricultural Marketing Act 1958 there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980” ;

at the end of paragraph (aaa) of section 23(2) of the M8Agricultural Marketing Act (Northern Ireland) Act 1964 there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980” ;

at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 133 of the Fair Trading Act 1973 there shall be added the words “the Competition Act 1980, or” ;

in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 174 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 after the words “Estate Agents Act 1979” there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980” ;

at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 41 of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980” ; and

in paragraph (a) of subsection 10 of the M9Estate Agents Act 1979 after the words “Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976” there shall be added the words “or the Competition Act 1980”.

as limiting the matters which may be included in any report of the Director or of the Commission made under this Act F31or in anything published under section 4(2)(a) above; or

as applying to any information which has been made public as part of such a report or as part of the register kept for the purposes of the Act of 1976.