The Act Schedule 1: The Serious Organised Crime Agency Section 33: Disclosure of information by SOCA
125.This section provides that SOCA may disclose information to any person or body for any of the “permitted purposes” set out in subsection (2)(a) to (e). Under subsection (2)(f) the Secretary of State will be able to add to the list of disclosure purposes by order which will be subject to affirmative resolution. Subsection (3) disapplies any statutory or other restriction on the disclosure of information in respect of any disclosure made by SOCA for a permitted purpose.
126.Subsection (4) provides that disclosures of information which contravene the Data Protection Act 1998 (“the 1998 Act”), or section 35(2) of this Act, or are prohibited by Part 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”), are not permitted. Neither the 1998 Act or the 2000 Act impose blanket prohibitions on the disclosure of information. In the case of the Data Protection Act, sections 28 and 29 enable personal data to be shared for the purposes of, amongst other things, safeguarding national security, the prevention and detection of crime and the apprehension or prosecution of offenders. Part 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act also allows disclosure of information in connection with an interception warrant, for example where a disclosure is authorised under the terms of a warrant or by the person to whom the warrant was issued. It is also implicit that the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 would need to be taken into account before any disclosure is made to a permitted person or body.