(3)Where an appeal under this section is brough against a notice within the period allowed under the preceding subsection, then—

(a)in the case of an improvement notice, the bringing of the appeal shall have the effect of suspending the operation of the notice until the appeal is finally disposed of or, if the appeal is withdrawn, until the withdrawal of the appeal;

(b)in the case of a prohibition notice, the bringing of the appeal shall have the like effect if, but only if, on the application of the appellant the tribunal so directs (and then only from the giving of the direction).

(4)One or more assessors may be appointed for the purposes of any proceedings brought before an [F1employment tribunal] under this section.

25 Power to deal with cause of imminent danger

(1)Where, in the case of any article or substance found by him in any premises which he has power to enter, an inspector has reasonable cause to believe that, in the circumstances in which he finds it, the article or substance is a cause of imminent danger of serious personal injury, he may seize it and cause it to be rendered harmless (whether by destruction or otherwise).

(2)Before there is rendered harmless under this section—

(a)any article that forms part of a batch of similar articles; or

(b)any substance,

the inspector shall, if it is practicable for him to do so, take a sample thereof and give to a responsible person at the premises where the article or substance was found by him a portion of the sample marked in a manner sufficient to identify it.

(3)As soon as may be after any article or substance has been seized and rendered harmless under this section, the inspector shall prepare and sign a written report giving particulars of the circumstances in which the article or substance was seized and so dealt with by him, and shall—

(a)give a signed copy of the report to a responsible person at the premises where the article or substance was found by him; and

(b)unless that person is the owner of the article or substance, also serve a signed copy of the report on the owner;

and if, where paragraph (b) above applies, the inspector cannot after reasonable enquiry ascertain the name or address of the owner, the copy may be served on him by giving it to the person to whom a copy was given under the preceding paragraph.

[F125A Power of customs officer to detain articles and substances

(1)A customs officer may, for the purpose of facilitating the exercise or performance by any enforcing authority or inspector of any of the powers or duties of the authority or inspector under any of the relevant statutory provisions, seize any imported article or imported substance and detain it for not more than two working days.

(2)Anything seized and detained under this section shall be dealt with during the period of its detention in such manner as the Commissioners of Customs and Excise may direct.

(3)In subsection (1) above the reference to two working days is a reference to a period of forty-eight hours calculated from the time when the goods in question are seized but disregarding so much of any period as falls on a Saturday or Sunday or on Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act M11971 in the part of Great Britain where the goods are seized.]

26 Power of enforcing authorities to indemnify their inspectors

Where an action has been brought against an inspector in respect of an act done in the execution or purported execution of any of the relevant statutory provisions and the circumstances are such that he is not legally entitled to require the enforcing authority which appointed him to indemnify him, that authority may, nevertheless, indemnify him against the whole or part of any damages and costs or expenses which he may have been ordered to pay or may have incurred, if the authority is satisfied that he honestly believed that the act complained of was within his powers and that his duty as an inspector required or entitled him to do it.

Obtaining and disclosure of information

27 Obtaining of information by the Commission, the Executive, enforcing authorities etc

(1)For the purpose of obtaining—

(a)any information which the Commission needs for the discharge of its functions; or

(b)any information which an enforcing authority needs for the discharge of the authority’s functions,

the Commission may, with the consent of the Secretary of State, serve on any person a notice requiring that person to furnish to the Commission or, as the case may be, to the enforcing authority in question such information about such matters as may be specified in the notice, and to do so in such form and manner and within such time as may be so specified.

In this subsection “consent” includes a general consent extending to cases of any stated description.

(2)Nothing in section 9 of the M1Statistics of Trade Act 1947 (which restricts the disclosure of information obtained under that Act) shall prevent or penalise—

(a)the disclosure by a Minister of the Crown to the Commission or the Executive of information obtained under that Act about any undertaking within the meaning of that Act, being information consisting of the names and address of the persons carrying on the undertaking, the nature of the undertaking’s activities, the numbers of persons of different descriptions who work in the undertaking, the addresses or places where activities of the undertaking are or were carried on, the nature of the activities carried on there, or the numbers of person of different descriptions who work or worked in the undertaking there; . . . F1

(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

(3)In the preceding subsection any reference to a Minister of the Crown, the Commission [F2or the Executive] includes respectively a reference to an officer of his or of that body and also, in the case of a reference to the Commission, includes a reference to—

(a)a person performing any functions of the Commission or the Executive on its behalf by virtue of section 13(1)(a);

(b)an officer of a body which is so performing any such functions; and

(c)an adviser appointed in pursuance of section 13(1)(d).

(4)A person to whom information is disclosed in pursuance of subsection (2) above shall not use the information for a purpose other than a purpose of the Commission or, as the case may be, of the Executive.

[F127A[F2Information communicated by Commissioners for Revenue and Customs]

(1)If they think it appropriate to do so for the purpose of facilitating the exercise or performance by any person to whom sub-section (2) below applies of any of that person’s powers or duties under any of the relevant statutory provisions, [F3the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] may authorise the disclosure to that person of any information obtained [F4or held] for the purposes of the exercise [F5by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] of their functions in relation to imports.

(2)This subsection applies to an enforcing authority and to an inspector.

(3) A disclosure of information made to any person under subsection (1) above shall be made in such manner as may be directed by [F6the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs]and may be made through such persons acting on behalf of that person as may be so directed.

(4)Information may be disclosed to a person under subsection (1) above whether or not the disclosure of the information has beenrequested by or on behalf of that person.]

28 Restrictions on disclosure of information

(1)In this and the two following subsections—

(a)“relevant information” means information obtained by a person under section 27(1) or furnished to any person [F1under section 27A above [F2, by virtue of section 43A(6) below]or] in pursuance of a requirement imposed by any of the relevant statutory provisions; and

(b)“the recipient”, in relation to any relevant information, means the person by whom that information was so obtained or to whom that information was so furnished, as the case may be.

(2)Subject to the following subsection, no relevant information shall be disclosed without the consent of the person by whom it was furnished.

(3)The preceding subsection shall not apply to—

(a)disclosure of information to the Commission, the Executive, [F3 the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency,] a government department or any enforcing authority;

(b)without prejudice to paragraph (a) above, disclosure by the recipient of information to any person for the purpose of any function conferred on the recipient by or under any of the relevant statutory provisions;

(c)without prejudice to paragraph (a) above, disclosure by the recipient of information to—

(i)an officer of a local authority who is authorised by that authority to receive it,

[F4(ii)an officer F5. . . of a water undertaker, sewerage undertaker, water authority or water development board who is authorised by that F6. . . undertaker, authority or board to receive it,]

F7(iii). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(iv)a constable authorised by a chief officer of police to receive it;

(d)disclosure by the recipient of information in a form calculated to prevent it from being identified as relating to a particular person or case;

(e)disclosure of information for the purposes of any legal proceedings or any investigation or inquiry held by virtue of section 14(2), or for the purposes of a report of any such proceedings or inquiry or of a special report made by virtue of section 14(2).

[F8(f)any other disclosure of information by the recipient, if–

(i)the recipient is, or is acting on behalf of a person who is, a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and

(ii)the information is not held by the authority on behalf of another person.]

(4)In the preceding subsection any reference to the Commission, the Executive, [F9the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency,] a government department or an enforcing authority includes respectively a reference to an officer of that body or authority (including, in the case of an enforcing authority, any inspector appointed by it), and also, in the case of a reference to the Commission, includes a reference to—

(a)a person performing any functions of the Commission or the Executive on its behalf by virtue of section 13(1)(a);

(b)an officer of a body which is so performing any such functions; and

(c)an adviser appointed in pursuance of section 13(1)(d).

(5)A person to whom information is disclosed in pursuance of [F10any of paragraphs (a) to (e) of] subsection (3) above shall not use the information for a purpose other than—

(a)in a case falling within paragraph (a) of that subsection, a purpose of the Commission or of the Executive or [F11of the Environment Agency or of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency or]of the government department in question, or the purposes of the enforcing authority in question in connection with the relevant statutory provisions, as the case may be;

(b)in the case of information given to an officer of a [F12body which is a local authority, F13. . . a water undertaker, a sewerage undertaker, a water authority, a river purification board or a water development board, the purposes of the body] in connection with the relevant statutory provisions or any enactment whatsoever relating to public health, public safety or the protection of the environment;

(c)in the case of information given to a constable, the purposes of the police in connection with the relevant statutory provisions or any enactment whatsoever relating to public health, public safety or the safety of the State.

[F14(6)References in subsections (3) and (5) above to a local authority include . . . F15 a joint authority established by Part IV of the Local Government Act 1985 [F16and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority].]

(7)A person shall not disclose any information obtained by him as a result of the exercise of any power conferred by section 14(4)(a) or 20 (including, in particular, any information with respect to any trade secret obtained by him in any premises entered by him by virtue of any such power) except—

(a)for the purposes of his functions; or

(b)for the purposes of any legal proceedings or any investigation or inquiry held by virtue of section 14(2) or for the purposes of a report of any such proceedings or inquiry or of a special report made by virtue of section 14(2); or

(c)with the relevant consent.

In this subsection “the relevant consent” means, in the case of information furnished in pursuance of a requirement imposed under section 20, the consent of the person who furnished it, and, in any other case, the consent of a person having responsibilities in relation to the premises where the information was obtained.

(8)Notwithstanding anything in the preceding subsection an inspector shall, in circumstances in which it is necessary to do so for the purpose of assisting in keeping persons (or the representatives of persons) employed at any premises adequately informed about matters affecting their health, safety and welfare, give to such persons or their represenatives the following descriptions of information, that is to say—

(a)factual information obtained by him as mentioned in that subsection which relates to those premises or anything which was or is therein or was or is being done therein; and

(b)information with respect to any action which he has taken or proposes to take in or in connection with those premises in the performance of his functions;

and, where an inspector does as aforesaid, he shall give the like information to the employer of the first-mentioned persons.

[F17(9)Notwithstanding anything in subsection (7) above, a person who has obtained such information as is referred to in that subsection may furnish to a person who appears to him to be likely to be a party to any civil proceedings arising out of any accident, occurrence, situation or other matter, a written statement of relevant facts observed by him in the course of exercising any of the powers referred to in that subsection].

[F18(9A)Subsection (7) above does not apply if–

(a)the person who has obtained any such information as is referred to in that subsection is, or is acting on behalf of a person who is, a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and

(b)the information is not held by the authority on behalf of another person.]