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December 08, 2004
29 Unauthorised disclosure of information
29 Unauthorised disclosure of information
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if, without lawful authority—
(a) he provides any person with information that he is required to keep confidential; or
(b) he otherwise makes a disclosure of any such information.
(2) For the purposes of this section a person is required to keep information confidential if it is information that is or has become available to him by reason of his holding an office or employment the duties of which relate, in whole or in part, to—
(a) the establishment or maintenance of the Register; or
(b) the issue, modification, cancellation or surrender of ID cards.
(3) For the purposes of this section information is provided or otherwise disclosed with lawful authority if, and only if—
(a) it is authorised by or under this Act or another enactment;
(b) it is made in pursuance of an order or direction of a court or of a tribunal established by or under any enactment;
(c) it is made in pursuance of a Community obligation; or
(d) it is made for the purpose of performing the duties of an office or employment of the sort mentioned in subsection (2).
(4) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to show that, at the time of the alleged offence, he believed, on reasonable grounds, that he had lawful authority to provide the information or to make the other disclosure in question.
(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
Clause 29: Unauthorised disclosure of information
159. This clause creates a new criminal offence of disclosure without lawful authority of information held on the National Identity Register.
160. Subsections (1) and (2) set out the circumstances under which a person is guilty of such an offence.
161. Subsection (3) defines what is meant by "lawful authority" for the purposes of this clause including if it is authorised by this legislation or required by a court order.
162. Subsection (4) states that a person has a defence if he can show that he believed, on reasonable grounds, that he had lawful authority to disclose the information.
163. Subsection (5) sets out the maximum penalty for the offence as 2 years imprisonment or a fine or both.
Amendments up to and including Friday 14th January 2005 page 5
Patrick Mercer Mr Humfrey Malins Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Mr Richard Allan Mr Alistair Carmichael
Clause 29, page 25, line 44, at and insert—
'(4A) It is also a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to show that the provision of information or the making of the other disclosure in question was in the public interest.'.
Posted by wtwu at December 8, 2004 02:55 AM
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Comments
I notice that this section only applies to those directly involved with the register, so all the other people (including the Sec.of State himself) who can get the information are free and clear to disclose it!
Posted by: Thurstan at December 13, 2004 12:02 PM
On second thought the Sec of State is included, but all the police/intelligence/credit agencys are not.
Posted by: Thurstan at December 13, 2004 12:05 PM
Surely the Home Secretary and the police and intelligence agencies , and any private companies such as credit agencies, which have been licensed all have authorised access and lawful authority ?
What is 3(c) "a Community obligation" ? Is that a European Economic Community obligation or something else ?
Posted by: wtwu at December 13, 2004 01:33 PM
Does this mean that when EDS screws up and lets the contens of the register become accessable on a public web site we can see them prosicuted
Posted by: John at December 15, 2004 12:09 AM
29 (4)
"(4) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to show that, at the time of the alleged offence, he believed, on reasonable grounds, that he had lawful authority to provide the information or to make the other disclosure in question."
Either there is a properely audited and authorised mechanism for disclosure of this personal information or there is not.
Under what possible circumstances can 29 (4) ever apply ?
This clause seems to be an attempt to nullify any protections under the Data Protection Act.
Posted by: wtwu at December 17, 2004 07:53 PM