Part 9: Miscellaneous and General Chapter 1: Miscellaneous Section 162: Requirement to give information in criminal proceedings
Section 162 forms part of the law of England and Wales.
	This section introduces a new section 86A into the Courts Act 2003, requiring all defendants in a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court to provide their name, date of birth and nationality (new section 86A(1)). Currently rule 5.4 of the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2016 (SI 2016/120) requires the court to record, amongst other things, a defendant’s identity, address and date of birth. No sanction applies if the defendant fails or refuses to provide this information, nor is there any requirement to record information on nationality. A defendant who fails to provide their name, date of birth and/or nationality when requested by the court, or provides false or incomplete information, will commit an offence (new section 86A(3)) punishable by a maximum of six months' imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both (new section 86A(5)).
	How and when this information will be requested by the court will be set out in the Criminal Procedure Rules (new section 86A(2)), with a requirement for the Rules to specify a point in proceedings when this information must be requested, while also allowing a discretion for the rules to set out other occasions on which the information may be requested. This is to ensure that every defendant who appears in court is asked for this information at least once as their case progresses. The means by which this information is requested/given (for example, in writing or by oral questions) will also be set out in the Criminal Procedure Rules.
	New section 86A(4) ensures that information provided in compliance with the requirement in new section 86A(1) cannot be used as evidence in any other criminal proceedings against the defendant. This is to ensure that the defendant’s privilege against self-incrimination is upheld in respect of any other proceedings against him or her, should the information collected be of relevance to those other proceedings.
	New section 86A(6) allows, should the court wish, for the offence under new section 86A(3) to be dealt with at the same time as the underlying offence for which the person is before the court. This enables a court to deal with proceedings efficiently in terms of both cost and time as and when they may arise.