2(1)The evidence shall be taken on oath by a judge of the High Court designated by the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.N.I.
(2)The judge so designated (hereafter referred to as “the Commissioner”) shall sit in private except at such times and on such occasions as he otherwise directs.
(3)If the witness—
(a)on being duly summoned as a witness before the Commissioner makes default in attending, or
(b)being in attendance as a witness refuses to take an oath legally required by the Commissioner to be taken, or to produce any document or thing in his power or control legally required by the Commissioner to be produced by him, or to answer any question to which the Commissioner may legally require an answer, or
(c)does any other thing which would, if the Commissioner had been a court of law having power to commit for contempt, have been contempt of that court,
the witness shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.
(4)The witness shall be entitled to the same immunities and privileges as if he were a witness in a trial on indictment for an offence under the law of Northern Ireland, and questions as to the exclusion of any evidence, or the withholding of any document or thing on the ground of public interest, shall be determined in accordance with the law of Northern Ireland.