Commentary on Sections Investigations by Adjudicator Section 54: Investigation reports
322.This section requires the Adjudicator to publish a report at the end of an investigation.
323.Subsection (2) specifies that an investigation report must specify any findings and any action taken or proposed. The report does not have to disclose the identity of the pub-owning business in question. This is because there may be cases where the Adjudicator considers that the objectives of the Pubs Code can be effectively achieved whilst dealing with the relevant pub-owning business privately. If the Adjudicator does choose to identify the pub-owning business in an investigation report, the business must be given an opportunity to comment on a draft of that investigation report before it is published.
324.Where an investigation finds that a pub-owning business has failed to comply with the Pubs Code, and that failure has affected a particular tenant, the finding of the investigation will not constitute a determination of liability of the pub-owning business to that tenant on which the tenant can rely. The tenant would need to make its own claim against the pub-owning business in order to obtain a remedy.