Disclosure of information
39Disclosure of information to Environmental Standards Scotland
(1)No enactment or rule of law prohibiting or restricting the disclosure of information prevents a public authority from providing Environmental Standards Scotland with information necessary for the exercise of Environmental Standards Scotland’s functions in accordance with—
(a)the authority’s duty to co-operate under section 23(1), or
(b)an information notice issued under section 24(1).
(2)But nothing in this Chapter requires a public authority to provide Environmental Standards Scotland with information that the authority—
(a)would be entitled to refuse to provide in civil proceedings on grounds of confidentiality of communications, or
(b)would be entitled, or required by any rule of law, to refuse to provide in civil proceedings on grounds of public interest immunity.
(3)Nothing in this Chapter requires or authorises a disclosure of information which, although made in accordance with a duty or a power provided for in this Chapter, would contravene the data protection legislation.
(4)In subsection (3), “the data protection legislation” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3(9) of that Act).
40Confidentiality of proceedings
(1)Environmental Standards Scotland must not disclose—
(a)information obtained under section 23(1) or 24(1), or
(b)correspondence between Environmental Standards Scotland and a public authority that—
(i)relates to a particular information notice or compliance notice, or to the preparation of a particular improvement report,
(ii)is, or contains, such a notice or an unpublished draft of such a report.
(2)Subsection (1) does not apply to—
(a)a disclosure (other than a disclosure of an information notice, a compliance notice or an unpublished draft of an improvement report) made with the consent of the public authority who provided the information or correspondence,
(b)a disclosure made for purposes connected with the exercise of Environmental Standards Scotland’s functions,
(c)a disclosure made to the Office for Environmental Protection, or any other environmental governance body, for purposes connected with the exercise of an environmental governance function,
(d)a disclosure of information, or correspondence, that relates only to a matter in relation to which Environmental Standards Scotland does not intend to take any further action under this Chapter,
(e)a disclosure made for the purposes of civil proceedings,
(f)a disclosure made for the purposes of the investigation or prosecution of any offence or suspected offence or for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime,
(g)a disclosure made in pursuance of an order of a court or tribunal,
(h)a disclosure made in accordance with any other enactment requiring or permitting the disclosure.