The Board of Trade may by notice served upon any trader concerned with an essential commodity require him to make periodical and other returns, at such times and containing such particulars as may be specified in the notice, as to the stocks of the commodity from time to time held by him, and as to the facilities available for storing and for utilising stocks of the commodity.

Any Government Department, and any body of persons having, by virtue of any Act, power to obtain for any purpose information as to matters with respect to which the Board of Trade are empowered by the last foregoing subsection to require returns to be made, shall, if required so to do by the Board, exercise that power for the purpose of assisting the Board in obtaining information as to the stocks of essential commodities held by traders, or as to the facilities available for storing or for utilising stocks of such commodities; and any such information obtained by any Government Department or by any such body of persons as aforesaid, whether upon the requisition of the Board or otherwise may, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, be furnished to the Board.

No information with respect to any particular undertaking which has been obtained under or by virtue of this Act shall, without the consent of the person carrying on that undertaking, be disclosed otherwise than in pursuance of the performance by the Board of Trade of their functions under this Act; and if any person discloses any such information in contravention of this subsection, he shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or to both such imprisonment and such fine or, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment and such fine: