Scheme administration

Unauthorised disclosure of information: offence
8
1
A person involved in the administration of the scheme must not, without lawful authority, disclose information which—
a
was acquired in connection with the administration of the scheme, and
b
relates to a particular person who is identified in the information or whose identity could be deduced from it.
2
A disclosure is made with “lawful authority” only if—
a
it is made for the purposes of the administration of the scheme,
b
it is made for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime,
c
it is made in accordance with any enactment or an order of a court or tribunal,
d
it is made for the purposes of proceedings before a court or tribunal, or
e
it is made with consent given by or on behalf of the person to whom the information relates or the person's personal representatives.
3
A person who breaches subsection (1) commits an offence (for penalties, see section 9).
4
It is a defence for a person charged with the offence under subsection (3) to prove that he or she reasonably believed—
a
that the disclosure was made with lawful authority, or
b
that someone had, with lawful authority, previously disclosed the information to the public.
5
In this section “person involved in the administration of the scheme” means a person who is or has been—
a
the scheme administrator,
b
a person providing services to the scheme administrator, or
c
an officer or employee of a person within paragraph (a) or (b).
S. 8 in force at 31.3.2014 by S.I. 2014/459, art. 3(b)