Fair Trading Act 1973

133General restrictions on disclosure of information

(1)Subject to subsections (2) to (4) of this section, no information with respect to any particular business which has been obtained under or by virtue of the provisions (other than Part II) of this Act or under or by virtue of the Act of 1956 or the Act of 1968 shall, so long as that business continues to be carried on, be disclosed without the consent of the person for the time being carrying on that business.

(2)The preceding subsection does not apply to any disclosure of information which is made—

(a)for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions of the Director, the Commission, the Secretary of State or any other Minister under this Act, the Act of 1956 or the Act of 1968, or

(b)in pursuance of a Community obligation within the meaning of the [1972 c. 68.] European Communities Act 1972.

(3)Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to any disclosure of information which is made for the purposes of any proceedings before the Restrictive Practices Court or of any other legal proceedings, whether civil or criminal, under this Act, the Act of 1956 or the Act of 1968.

(4)Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall be construed—

(a)as limiting the matters which may be included in, or made public as part of, a report of the Advisory Committee or of the Commission ;

(b)as hmiuhg the particulars which may be entered or filed in, or made public as part of, the register under Part I of the Act of 1956; or

(c)as applying to any information which has been made public as part of such a report or as part of that register.

(5)Any person who discloses any information in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £400;

(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both.

(6)In this section references to this Act shall be construed as including references to any enactment repealed by this Act.