Communications Act 2003

Enforcement of information provisions

13 (1) The court may, on an application by OFCOM, enquire into whether any person (“the defaulter”) has refused or otherwise failed, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a requirement contained in a notice under paragraph 12.

(2) An application under sub-paragraph (1) shall include details of the possible failure which OFCOM consider has occurred.

(3) In enquiring into a case under sub-paragraph (1), the court shall hear—

(a) any witness who may be produced against or on behalf of the defaulter; and

(b) any statement which may be offered in defence.

(4) Sub-paragraphs (5) and (6) apply where the court is satisfied, after hearing any witnesses and statements as mentioned in sub-paragraph (3), that the defaulter has refused or failed, without reasonable excuse, to comply with the requirement contained in the notice under paragraph 12.

(5) The court may punish the defaulter as it would have been able to punish him had he been guilty of contempt of court.

(6) Where the defaulter is a body corporate, the power of the court to punish the defaulter includes power to punish a director or officer of the body corporate.

(7) Where the defaulter is a partnership constituted under the law of Scotland, the power of the court to punish the defaulter includes power to punish a member of the partnership.

(8) A person is guilty of an offence if he intentionally alters, suppresses or destroys a document which he has been required to produce by a notice under paragraph 12.

(9) A person is guilty of an offence if—

(a) he supplies information to OFCOM in purported compliance with a notice given to him under paragraph 12;

(b) the information is false or misleading in a material respect; and

(c) he knows that it is false or misleading in a material respect or is reckless as to whether it is false or misleading in a material respect.

(10) A person is guilty of an offence if—

(a) he supplies information to another person knowing that the information is to be used for complying with a notice under paragraph 12;

(b) the information is false or misleading in a material respect; and

(c) he knows that it is false or misleading in a material respect or is reckless as to whether it is false or misleading in a material respect.

(11) A person guilty of an offence under this paragraph shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.

(12) In this paragraph “the court” means—

(a) in relation to England and Wales, the High Court;

(b) in relation to Scotland, the Court of Session; and

(c) in relation to Northern Ireland, the High Court or a judge of the High Court.