Part 6

Cartel offence

Criminal investigations by OFT

Privileged information etc.
196
1
A person may not under section 193 or 194 be required to disclose any information or produce any document which he would be entitled to refuse to disclose or produce on grounds of legal professional privilege in proceedings in the High Court, except that a lawyer may be required to provide the name and address of his client.
2
A person may not under section 193 or 194 be required to disclose any information or produce any document in respect of which he owes an obligation of confidence by virtue of carrying on any banking business unless—
a
the person to whom the obligation of confidence is owed consents to the disclosure or production; or
b
the CMA has authorised the making of the requirement.
2A
Nothing in section 194 authorises an officer to produce or take possession of, or make copies of or take extracts from, anything which, by virtue of subsections (1) or (2), a person could not be required to disclose or produce under section 193 or 194.
3
In the application of this section to Scotland, the reference in subsection (1)—
a
to proceedings in the High Court is to be read as a reference to legal proceedings generally; and
b
to an entitlement on grounds of legal professional privilege is to be read as a reference to an entitlement by virtue of any rule of law whereby—
i
communications between a professional legal adviser and his client, or
ii
communications made in connection with or in contemplation of legal proceedings and for the purposes of those proceedings,
are in such proceedings protected from disclosure on the ground of confidentiality.
Word in s. 196(2)(b) substituted (1.4.2014) by Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (c. 24), s. 103(3), Sch. 5 para. 215 (with s. 28); S.I. 2014/416, art. 2(1)(d) (with Sch.)
S. 196(2A) inserted (1.1.2025) by Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (c. 13), ss. 141(4), 339(1); S.I. 2024/1226, regs. 1(2), 2(1)(2) (with Sch. para. 12, 20)