(1)The Commissioner may conduct an inquiry into any matter relating to any of the Commissioner’s functions.
(2)But that is subject to subsections (3) to (5).
(3)Subsection (1) does not authorise the Commissioner to conduct an inquiry in a case where he or she—
(a)may or must carry out a standards investigation under Chapter 8 of Part 4, or
(b)undertakes (and does not discontinue) an investigation under Part 5.
(4)Subsection (1) does not authorise the Commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the failure, by one or more particular persons, to comply with one or more relevant requirements.
(5)Subsection (1) does not authorise the Commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the interference, by one or more particular persons, with the freedom to communicate in Welsh (but see Part 6 for power to investigate certain interference with that freedom).
(6)Subsection (4) or (5) does not prevent the Commissioner from taking the conduct of one or more particular persons into account when conducting an inquiry into—
(a)failure to comply with relevant requirements, or
(b)interference with the freedom to communicate in Welsh.
(7)The Commissioner may—
(a)discontinue, or
(b)suspend,
the conduct of an inquiry or any aspect of an inquiry.
(8)If, in the course of an inquiry, the Commissioner begins to suspect that a person may have failed to comply with one or more relevant requirements—
(a)in continuing the inquiry the Commissioner must, so far as possible, avoid further consideration of whether or not the person has failed to comply with the requirements,
(b)the Commissioner may commence an investigation into that question under Part 5, and
(c)the Commissioner may use information or evidence acquired in the course of the inquiry for the purpose of the investigation.
(9)Schedule 2 makes supplemental provision about inquiries.
(10)In this section, a reference to failure to comply with one or more relevant requirements has the same meaning as in Part 5.