Part 1: Main Provisions Section 26: Authorities which may require information
This section provides for the power under section 25 to be exercised by "the appropriate authority". This section defines appropriate authorities for these purposes as:
the Secretary of State;
the Scottish Ministers, if and to the extent that an Act of the Scottish Parliament could have authorised the Scottish Ministers to impose the requirement;
the Welsh Ministers, if and to the extent that an Act of the National Assembly for Wales could have authorised the Welsh Ministers to impose the requirement;
the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland ("DAERA"), if and to the extent that an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly made without the Secretary of State’s consent, could have authorised DAERA to impose the requirement.
	Devolved Administrations’ ability to exercise the power at section 25 is linked to their respective Parliament or Assembly’s legislative competence. This section provides that where the Secretary of State wishes to exercise the power under section 25, if and to the extent that it could have been exercised by another of the appropriate authorities, the consent of the relevant authority is required.
	This section provides that the Secretary of State is not required to seek consent from an appropriate authority in order to request information about an activity if and to the extent that the activity to which the requirement relates takes place outside of their area.
	This section requires that any information obtained in response to a requirement made with the consent of another authority, and which relates to that authority’s area, must be disclosed to that authority.
	The territorial extent and application of this section is England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.