Commentary on Sections Offences Section 27: Unauthorised disclosure of information
158.This section creates a new criminal offence of disclosure without lawful authority of information held on the National Identity Register.
159.Subsections (1) and (2) set out the circumstances under which a person is guilty of such an offence and defines the persons covered by this offence as including those involved in the establishment or maintenance of the Register, the issue and manufacture etc of ID cards, or the carrying out of the Commissioner’s functions.
160.Subsection (3) defines what is meant by “lawful authority” for the purposes of this section. For example, there is lawful authority to disclose if the disclosure is authorised by this legislation or required by a court order.
161.Subsection (4) states that a person has a defence if he can show that he believed, on reasonable grounds, that he had lawful authority to disclose the information.
162.Subsection (5) sets out the maximum penalty for the offence as 2 years imprisonment or a fine or both.