Commentary on Sections Part 2 – Lack of Capacity: Protection from Liability, and Safeguards Chapter 8 – Supplementary Sections 57 and 58 – Provision of information
Section 57 is a general provision that enables the Department to make regulations about when information must be given for the purposes of Part 2. This is an important section and the regulations made under it will be extensive given the many occasions in which information will have to be provided in relation to acts covered by the Act and in respect of authorisations made under Schedule 1 and 2, both of which also contain further provisions requiring information to be given at various stages in the authorisation process. Specifically, section 57 makes it clear that these regulations must include provision for P to be informed of the provisions in Part 2 under which he or she is detained and his or her rights in terms of having his or her case reviewed by the Tribunal, and for P to be informed in writing on discharge from detention.
Section 58 states that the way in which information is provided when required by any provision in Part 2 or by regulations made under Part 2 may also be detailed in regulations. This may include a requirement to provide information orally, as well as in writing.