General provisions about references and investigations

Restriction on disclosure of information
19
1
Subject to subsection (2) below, no information obtained under or by virtue of the preceding provisions of this Act about any business shall, so long as the business continues to be carried on, be disclosed without the consent of the person for the time being carrying it on.
2
Subsection (1) above does not apply to any disclosure of information made—
a
for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions under this Act or any of the enactments specified in subsection (3) below of any Minister, any Northern Ireland department, the head of any such department, the Director, the Commission or a local weights and measures authority in Great Britain; or
b
in connection with the investigation of any criminal offence or for the purposes of any criminal proceedings ; or
c
for the purposes of any civil proceedings brought under or by virtue of this Act or any of the enactments specified in subsection (3) below ; or
d
in pursuance of a Community obligation.
3
The enactments referred to in subsection (2) above are—
a
the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 ;
b
the Fair Trading Act 1973 ;
c
the Consumer Credit Act 1974 ;
d
the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 ;
e
the Resale Prices Act 1976 ; and
f
the Estate Agents Act 1979.
4
For the purpose of enabling information obtained under certain other enactments to be used for facilitating the performance of functions under this Act, the following amendments shall be made in provisions respecting disclosure of information, namely—
a
at the end of paragraph (aa) of the proviso to section 47(2) of the Agricultural Marketing Act 1958 there shall be added the words " or the Competition Act 1980 ";
b
at the end of paragraph (aaa) of section 23(2) of the Agricultural Marketing Act (Northern Ireland) 1964 there shall be added the words " or the Competition Act 1980 ";
c
at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 133 of the Fair Trading Act 1973 there shall be added the words " the Competition Act 1980, or ";
d
in paragraph (d) of subsection (3) of section 174 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 after the words "Estate Agents Act 1979 " there shall be added the words " or the Competition Act 1980 ";
e
at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 41 of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976 there shall be added the words " or the Competition Act 1980 "; and
f
in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 10 of the Estate Agents Act 1979 after the words " Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976" there shall be added the words " or the Competition Act 1980 ".
5
Nothing in subsection (1) above shall be construed—
a
as limiting the matters which may be included in any report of the Director or of the Commission made under this Act; or
b
as applying to any information which has been made public as part of such a report or as part of the register kept for the purposes of the Act of 1976.
6
Any person who discloses information in contravention of this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or both.
7
In subsection (6) above " the statutory maximum", in relation to a fine on summary conviction, means—
a
in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, the prescribed sum within the meaning of section 28 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 (at the passing of this Act £1,000); and
b
in Scotland, the prescribed sum within the meaning of section 289B of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 (at the passing of this Act £1,000);
and for the purposes of the application of this definition in Northern Ireland, the provisions of the Criminal Law Act 1977 which relate to the sum mentioned in paragraph (a) above shall extend to Northern Ireland.
1969 c. 29.
1973 c. 41.
1974 c. 39.
1976 c. 34.
1976 c. 53.
1979 c. 38.
1958 c. 47.
1964 c. 13 (N.I.).
1979 c. 38.
1977 c. 45.
1975 c. 21.