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National Security and Investment Act 2021

Contents

Part 4: Miscellaneous

Section 53: Procedure for service, etc

  1. Section 53 enables the Secretary of State to make regulations prescribing the procedure for service of documents under this Act.
  2. The regulations may in particular specify the manner in which a notice must be given, or an order served, the address to which a document must be sent, and whether a document may be sent electronically. They may also specify the date and time a notice or order is to be regarded as having been given or served (this may be important, for example, where a time limit begins to run from that date). The regulations may also make provision for cases where a recipient or sender is not an individual (for example, in the case of a company) or is outside the United Kingdom.

Information gateways

  1. Sections 54 and 55 provide the Secretary of State with the power to disclose information in specified circumstances to public authorities, and vice-versa.

Section 54: Disclosure of information

  1. Section 54 specifies the circumstances in which information may be disclosed.
  2. Subsection (1) provides an information gateway for public authorities to disclose information to the Secretary of State for the purpose of facilitating the exercise of his or her functions under the Act.
  3. Subsection (2) permits the Secretary of State to disclose information received under this Act to any UK or overseas public authority for specified purposes. Subsection (3) in addition permits disclosure of information to overseas public authorities for the purpose of the exercise of corresponding functions of overseas public authorities.
  4. Subsection (4) specifies that any person who receives information under subsection (2) or (3) of this section may not use it for any purpose other than the purpose for which it was disclosed, or further disclose it, without the Secretary of State’s consent. This subsection does not apply to information received from HMRC. In accordance with section 55(1), any person seeking to use information disclosed by HMRC under section 54 for a purpose other than facilitating the exercise by the Secretary of State of his or her functions under the Act, or seeking to further disclose such information, will be required to obtain HMRC consent.
  5. Subsections (6) and (7) set out considerations the Secretary of State must take into account when deciding whether to disclose information under this section.
  6. As the information disclosed under this Section may include information to which a duty of confidence would attach, subsection (8) overrides any obligation of confidence owed by a person disclosing information under this section, or any other restriction that would apply to the disclosure of that information (except as provided by section 57).
  7. Subsection (9) defines "overseas public authority" and "public authority".

Section 55: Disclosure of information held by HMRC

  1. Section 55(1) provides that a person (which includes the Secretary of State, another public authority or an overseas public authority) who receives information which has been disclosed under section 54 by HMRC, may not use the information for any purpose other than facilitating the exercise by the Secretary of State of his or her functions under the Act or disclose the information, without the permission of HMRC. Subsection (2) applies the criminal offence under section 19 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (offence of wrongful disclosure) to the unauthorised disclosure of personal information from HMRC.
  2. As the information disclosed under this section may include information to which a duty of confidence would attach, subsection (3) overrides any obligation of confidence owed by a person disclosing information under this section, or any other restriction that would apply to the disclosure of that information (except as provided by section 57).

Section 56: Duty of the CMA to provide information and assistance

  1. Section 56 requires the CMA to give information and assistance to the Secretary of State to enable him to carry out his or her functions under this Act. This section largely replicates an existing duty in section 105(5) and (6) of the Enterprise Act 2002.

Section 57: Data protection

  1. Section 57 provides that information may only be used or disclosed for the purposes of this Act if this does not contravene the data protection legislation or Parts 1 to 7 of, or Chapter 1 of Part 9 of, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.

Section 58 and Schedule 2: Minor and consequential amendments and revocations

  1. Section 58 and Schedule 2 make amendments to remove the existing national security screening measures from the Enterprise Act 2002.

Section 59: Overseas information disclosure

  1. Section 59 amends the overseas disclosure gateway in section 243 of the Enterprise Act 2002, removing the restriction on UK public authorities disclosing information that comes to them in connection with a merger investigation under that gateway.

Section 60: Defamation

  1. Section 60 protects the Secretary of State and the CMA against actions for defamation as a result of the exercise of functions under or by virtue of the Act.

Section 61: Annual report

  1. Section 61 requires, after the end of each financial year, the Secretary of State to prepare an annual report including the information set out at subsection (2), and to lay a copy of the report before each House of Parliament.

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