Part VI Miscellaneous and Supplementary

Miscellaneous

I1C2105 General restrictions on disclosure of information.

C3C5C6C7C81

Information which—

a

has been obtained under or by virtue of the provisions of this Act, Part I of the 1986 Act F9, Part 1 of the 1989 Act F23...F24, section 184(5) or 185(5) of the Energy Act 2004 F27 or Part 2 or section 27 or 28 of the Energy Act 2010F33or section 50 or 51 of the Energy Act 2013 or section 41 or 100 of the Energy Act 2008 F61or the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act 2018F77or the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act 2022F80or a relevant scheme or regulations made under section 9(1) or (2) or section 16 of the Energy Prices Act 2022F86or Part 1 of the Energy Act 2023F88or Part 5 of that Act; and

b

relates to the affairs of any individual or to any particular business,

shall not be disclosed during the lifetime of the individual or so long as the business continues to be carried on, except as provided below.

2

Subsection (1) does not apply to a disclosure made with the consent of the individual or the person for the time being carrying on the business.

3

Subsection (1) does not apply to a disclosure if—

a

it is made for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions of the Secretary of State, the Authority, F40Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice ScotlandF72, Consumer Scotland or the F41Competition and Markets Authority under the 1986 Act, the 1989 Act F10, section 184 or 185 of the Energy Act 2004F25 sections 41 to 43 F47... of the Energy Act 2008F28, Part 2 or section 28 of the Energy Act 2010F33, section 50 or 51 of the Energy Act 2013F52, the REMIT Regulations or this Act;

F62aza

it is made for the purpose of facilitating the performance, by a body specified as the Administrator under an order under section 33BC or 33BD of the Gas Act 1986 or under section 41A or 41B of the Electricity Act 1989, of its functions under that section and the order;

F63azb

it is made for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions of the Authority under F83Part 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002 or under the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act 2018;

F76azc

it is made for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions of the Authority under or by virtue of the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act 2022;

F85azd

it is made for the purpose of facilitating the performance of any functions of the Authority under or by virtue of Part 1 of the Energy Act 2023;

F46aa

it is made for the purpose of facilitating any functions of any person under section 100 of the Energy Act 2008;

F30ab

it is required by a notice under section 103B of this Act or is permitted by subsection (6) of that section;

F79ac

it is required by any person in exercise of a power to require information conferred by regulations under section 16 of the Energy Prices Act 2022;

F82ad

it is made for the purpose of facilitating any functions of the Authority, a delivery body or a contract counterparty (within the meaning of Part 1 of the 1989 Act) under regulations under section 6C of that Act;

b

it is required by a notice under section 38(1A) of the 1986 Act or section 28(2A) of the 1989 Act;

F64ba

it is a protected disclosure for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (and for the purposes of ascertaining whether it is a protected disclosure, subsection (9) is to be disregarded);

c

it is made by a licence holder and is required to be made by a condition of his licence; or

d

it is made by one licence holder to another and is required by that other licence holder for purposes connected with the carrying on of relevant activities.

C14

Subsection (1) does not apply to any disclosure of information made—

a

for the purpose of facilitating the performance by a person or body mentioned in subsection (5) of any function under an Act or instrument specified in subsection (6);

b

for the purpose of facilitating the performance by the Comptroller and Auditor General, F14...the Health and Safety Executive of any of his or its functions;

F35ba

for the purpose of facilitating the performance by the Office for Nuclear Regulation of any of its functions;

F89bb

for the purpose of facilitating the performance by the Independent System Operator and Planner of any of its functions;

c

for the purpose of facilitating the exercise by the Secretary of State of any power conferred F1. . . by the enactments relating to companies F1... or insolvency;

d

for the purpose of facilitating the performance of the functions of an inspector appointed under the enactments relating to companies;

F2da

for the purpose of facilitating the performance by the Secretary of State, the Treasury F31, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Bank of England of any functions under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 F34or the Consumer Credit Act 1974;

db

for the purpose of facilitating the discharge of any function by a person appointed under—

i

section 97 of the financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (investigations into a breach of listing rules etc.),

ii

section 167 of that Act (general investigations), or

iii

section 168 of that Act (investigations in particular cases);

e

for the purpose of facilitating the performance by an official receiver of his functions under the enactments relating to insolvency or by a recognised professional body for the purposes of section 391 of the M1Insolvency Act 1986 of its functions as such a body;

f

in connection with the investigation of any criminal offence or for the purposes of any criminal proceedings;

g

for the purposes of any civil proceedings brought F65—

i

under or by virtue of the 1986 Act, the 1989 Act, this Act or any Act or instrument specified in subsection (6), or

ii

in reliance on section 47B or 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996;

F49ga

in connection with the investigation of any failure to comply with a REMIT requirement F69or an EU REMIT requirement or for the purposes of any proceedings brought under or by virtue of REMIT F70or any proceedings brought under or by virtue of EU REMIT in a member State; or

h

in pursuance of F87an assimilated obligation.

5

The persons and bodies specified for the purposes of subsection (4)(a) are—

a

a Minister of the Crown;

b

the F45Competition and Markets Authority;

F36c

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F6d

the Office of Communications;

F12e

the Water Services Regulation Authority;

F50f

the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation;

h

F56the Office of Rail and Road;

i

the Civil Aviation Authority;

F55j

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

k

the Coal Authority; F19...

l

a local weights and measures authority in Great Britain F18, F44...

F37m

 Citizens Advice, F73...

n

Citizens Advice ScotlandF74, and

F74o

Consumer Scotland.

C46

The Acts and instruments specified for the purposes of subsection (4)(a) and (g) are—

a

the M2Trade Descriptions Act 1968;

b

the M3Fair Trading Act 1973;

c

the M4Consumer Credit Act 1974;

d

the M5Estate Agents Act 1979;

e

the M6Competition Act 1980;

f

the M7National Audit Act 1983;

g

the M8Telecommunications Act 1984;

h

the M9Airports Act 1986;

i

the M10Insolvency Act 1986;

j

the M11Consumer Protection Act 1987;

F15k

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

l

the M12Water Act 1989, the M13Water Industry Act 1991 or any of the other consolidation Acts (within the meaning of section 206 of the Water Industry Act 1991) F8or the Water Act 2003F13 or the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006F59or the Water Act 2014;

m

the M14Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992;

n

the M15Railways Act 1993;

o

the M16Coal Industry Act 1994;

p

the M17Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996;

q

the M18Competition Act 1998.

F3r

Part I of the Transport Act 2000.

F4s

the Enterprise Act 2002

F7t

the Communications Act 2003.

F11u

the Railways Act 2005.

F16v

the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008;

w

the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

F20x

the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.

F32x

Part 1 of the Civil Aviation Act 2012

F51y

the Electricity and Gas (Market Integrity and Transparency) (Enforcement etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013.

F38y

Parts 3 and 4 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013;

F60z

the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act 2018.

F84z1

Part 1 of the Energy Act 2023.

F486A

If the Authority is making a decision whether to disclose information to F71a national regulatory authority of a member State under subsection (4)(ga), the Authority must have regard in particular to whether there are arrangements in place for the provision of mutual assistance in relation to the disclosure of information.

7

The Secretary of State may by order modify subsection (3), (4), (5) or (6).

8

Nothing in subsection (1) is to be construed either as limiting the matters which may be—

a

published under section F21... 35 of the 1986 Act or section F26 32J orF21... 48 of the 1989 Act;

b

made public by the Authority as part of a notice under section 26; or

c

included in, or made public as part of, a report of the Authority F22... or the F42Competition and Markets Authority under any provision of this Act, Part I of the 1986 Act or Part I of the 1989 Act;

or as applying to information which has been so published or has been made public as part of such a notice or such a report.

F788A

Subsection (1) does not apply to a disclosure of information which has been obtained—

a

under or by virtue of a relevant scheme if it is made by a person in connection with that person’s performance of the terms of that relevant scheme, or

b

under or by virtue of regulations made under section 9(1) or (2) of the Energy Prices Act 2022 if the disclosure is made by a person in connection with the exercise of that person’s functions under the regulations.

9

A person who discloses any information in contravention of this section is guilty of an offence and liable—

a

on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;

b

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

10

In this section—

  • F67“EU REMIT” means Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (OJ L 326, 8.12.2011, p.1–16), as it has effect in EU law as amended from time to time;

  • F66“EU REMIT requirement” means a requirement imposed by any of Articles 3(1) and (5), 4(1), (2) and (3), 5, 8(1) and (5), 9(1), (4) and (5) and 15 of EU REMIT;

  • F90“the Independent System Operator and Planner” means the person for the time being designated under section 162(1) of the Energy Act 2023;

  • “licence holder” means the holder of a gas licence or an electricity licence; and

  • F53“national regulatory authority” has the same meaning as in F68EU REMIT;

  • “relevant activities”, in relation to a licence holder, means activities he is authorised by his licence to carry on (including, in the case of a gas transporter, the activities mentioned in section 7(1)(b) and (c) of the 1986 Act).

  • F81“relevant scheme” means—

    1. a

      a domestic electricity price reduction scheme for Great Britain, or

    2. b

      a domestic gas price reduction scheme for Great Britain,

    within the meaning of the Energy Prices Act 2022 (see section 1 of that Act);

  • F54“REMIT” means Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency;

  • “the REMIT Regulations” means the Electricity and Gas (Market Integrity and Transparency) (Enforcement etc.) Regulations 2013;

  • “REMIT requirement” has the same meaning as in the REMIT RegulationsF57;F58and

  • the reference to the Bank of England does not include the Bank acting in its capacity as the Prudential Regulation Authority.

11

Information obtained by the Authority in the exercise of functions which are exercisable concurrently with F39the Competition and Markets Authority under Part I of the M19Competition Act 1998 is subject to F5Part 9 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (Information) and not to subsections (1) to (10) of this section.

F1711A

Nothing in this section applies to information within section 29(3) of the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 (application of disclosure regime in Part 9 of the Enterprise Act 2002 to information obtained by F43Citizens AdviceF75, Citizens Advice Scotland or Consumer Scotland).

F2911B

Nothing in this section applies to information to which section 105A applies.

12

The power to make an order under subsection (7) is exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.