Agricultural Statistics Act 1979

3 Restriction on disclosure of information

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, no information relating to any particular land or business which has been obtained under section 1 or 2 above shall be published or otherwise disclosed without the previous consent in writing of the person by whom the information was furnished and every other person who is an owner or the occupier of the land and whose interests may in the opinion of the appropriate Minister be affected by the disclosure.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) above shall restrict the disclosure of information—

(a) to the Minister in charge of any Government department, to any authority acting under an enactment for regulating the marketing of any agricultural produce, or to any person exercising functions on behalf of any such Minister or authority for the purpose of the exercise of those functions;

(b) to an authority having power under any enactment to give permission for the development of land, for the purpose of assisting that authority in the preparation of proposals relating to such development or in considering whether or not to give such permission;

(c) if the disclosure is confined to situation, extent, number and kind of livestock, character of land, and name and address of owner and occupier, to any person to whom the appropriate Minister considers that the disclosure is required in the public interest;

(d) to any person for the purposes of any criminal proceedings under section 4 below or for the purposes of any report of such proceedings ;

(e) to the Agricultural Training Board under section 2B of the [1964 c. 16.] Industrial Training Act 1964; or

(f) to an institution of the European Communities under section 12 of the [1972 c. 68.] European Communities Act 1972,

or the use of information in any manner which the appropriate Minister thinks necessary or expedient in connection with the maintenance of the supply of food in the United Kingdom.