Section 10: Licensed providers to give information
44.Section 10 gives the Commission further powers in respect of its monitoring and compliance functions at section 8 by requiring water and sewerage service providers to provide the Commission with information.
45.Subsection (1) places a duty on service providers to comply with requests for information by the Commission, provided the request is reasonable for the Commission to make in the exercise of its functions. Subsection (2) provides that service providers need not provide the Commission with information that they would not be required to disclose on grounds of confidentiality in proceedings in the Court of Session (such as legally privileged information).
46.Subsection (3) provides that it is an offence for a service provider to fail to provide information required by the Commission without a reasonable excuse. Subsection (4) specifies that the penalties for this offence, depending on the type of conviction, are a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, currently set at £5,000, on summary conviction (i.e. where convicted by a Sheriff sitting without a jury), or an unlimited fine if convicted on indictment (i.e. where convicted by a jury in the Sheriff Court or the High Court).