The Postal Services Act 2011 (Disclosure of Information) Order 2012
In accordance with sections 56(4) and 89(4) of that Act a draft of this Order was laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.
Citation and Commencement1.
(1)
This Order may be cited as the Postal Services Act 2011 (Disclosure of Information) Order 2012.
(2)
This Order comes into force on the day following the day on which it is made.
Interpretation2.
In this Order, “the Act” means the Postal Services Act 2011.
Prescription of bodies and persons3.
Each of the following is a prescribed body or other person for the purposes of section 56(2)(d) of the Act—
the Civil Aviation Authority;
the Coal Authority;
the Competition Commission;
any district council in Northern Ireland;
the Financial Services Authority;
the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority;
the Health and Safety Executive;
the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland;
the Insolvency Practitioners Tribunal;
any local weights and measures authority in Great Britain;
any Minister of the Crown;
the National Consumer Council;
the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation;
any Northern Ireland department;
any Northern Ireland Minister;
the Office of Fair Trading;
the Office of Rail Regulation;
any official receiver in England, Wales or Northern Ireland;
any Scottish Minister;
the Treasury;
the Water Appeals Commission for Northern Ireland;
the Water Services Regulation Authority.
Prescription of enactments4.
Each of the following is a prescribed enactment for the purposes of section 56(2)(d) or (f) of the Act—
Prescription of other circumstances and purposes5.
Each of the following is a prescribed circumstance or purpose for the purposes of section 56(2)(h) of the Act—
(a)
the carrying out by the Comptroller and Auditor General, or the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland, of any of their functions under any enactment;
(b)
complying with any international obligation of the United Kingdom;
(c)
the conduct of negotiations by the Secretary of State with representatives of the government of a country outside the United Kingdom;
(d)
the provision of information, by or with the consent of the Secretary of State, to any international organisation of which the United Kingdom is a member.
Section 56 of the Postal Services Act 2011 (c.5) (“the Act”) imposes a general prohibition on the disclosure of information that relates to an individual or particular business and is obtained by virtue of Part 3 (Regulation of Postal Services) of the Act (“information”), except as permitted by the section.
Subsection (2) provides certain exemptions to the general prohibition. Subsections (2)(a), (b) and (c) have the effect of permitting disclosure of information with the consent of those concerned and to facilitate the carrying out of functions of OFCOM, the Secretary of State, the Treasury or the Competition Commission under the Act. Subsections (2)(d), (f) and (h) give the Secretary of State the power to prescribe, by Order, further persons, enactments, circumstances or purposes so as to permit disclosure of information under those subsections.
This Order provides that the Secretary of State prescribes bodies and other persons, enactments, circumstances or purposes for the purposes of disclosure of information permitted under section 56 of the Act.
Taken together with the exemptions to the general prohibition on disclosure provided in section 56(2), the provisions of this Order have the effect of creating a disclosure regime comparable to the (now repealed) permitted disclosure regime in Schedule 7 to the Postal Services Act 2000 (c.26).
Article 1 provides that the Order shall come into force on the day following that on which it is made.
Article 3 prescribes certain bodies and other persons (“prescribed persons”), with the effect that disclosure of information is permitted under section 56(2)(d) of the 2011 Act, for the purposes of facilitating their carrying out of any functions under enactments prescribed by article 4.
Article 4 prescribes enactments so as to permit, under section 56(2)(d), disclosure of information by prescribed persons to facilitate the carrying out of their functions under those enactments. Disclosure of information for the purposes of civil proceedings brought under those enactments is also permitted, under subsection (2)(f) of the Act.
Article 5 prescribes certain other circumstances and purposes, with the effect that disclosure of information in and for those circumstances and purposes is permitted under section 56(2)(h) of the Act.