12.This section enables the Secretary of State to obtain the information (defined in section 1(1) as "Additional Protocol information") needed for the UK to meet its reporting obligations under the Additional Protocol. These obligations are in Articles 2.a.(i), (ii), (iii), (vii), (viii), and (ix), 2.b. and 2.c. of, and Annex III to, the Additional Protocol.
13.Subsections (1) and (6) override any obligation of secrecy or other restriction (for example, in a statute or under contract) which would otherwise prevent a person from giving the Secretary of State Additional Protocol information. Subsection (1) covers voluntary disclosure, where a person has reasonable cause to believe that he has information which is Additional Protocol information. Subsection (6) covers information requested in a notice served by the Secretary of State under subsection (2).
14.Subsection (2) enables the Secretary of State to serve a notice on a person requiring that person to give information to the Secretary of State, in a form and within a period or at times specified in the notice. Subsection (3) provides that such a notice can only require information which the Secretary of State has reasonable cause to believe is Additional Protocol information, though this can relate to a time before the Act or the Additional Protocol comes into force. Under subsection (5) it will be a criminal offence not to comply with such a notice unless there is a reasonable excuse for not doing so. This will enable someone to be prosecuted who fails to provide the information when the notice requires or in the form specified in the notice; if anyone refuses outright to comply with a notice, it will be possible to prosecute them without having to wait until the end of the period or time specified in the notice.
15.In practice, it is anticipated that the great majority of the information required by the IAEA from the UK will be given to the Government voluntarily by those who have it, and formal notices under this section will rarely be needed. The Safeguards Office of the Department of Trade and Industry will issue detailed Guidelines to everyone known to the Department from whom information may be required for the purposes of the Additional Protocol. The Guidelines will say what information is required, and in what form. The Safeguards Office plans to send a copy of the Guidelines to a person not later than the first time that person is asked to give information for the purposes of the Additional Protocol, whether by a formal notice under the Act or not; and to send out revised versions of the Guidelines every time they are updated. Further copies will be readily available from the Safeguards Office without charge.
16.It is anticipated that the Secretary of State will not normally need to ask for information not covered by the Guidelines, except where the UK and IAEA agree under Article 2.a.(ii) of the Additional Protocol that additional information should be provided. Any notices which are served will therefore normally correspond with the Guidelines. If a notice has to be used to obtain extra information agreed by the UK and the IAEA under Article 2.a.(ii) of the Additional Protocol, subsection (4) requires the notice to set out what has been agreed.
17.Subsection (7) imposes on anyone on whom a notice under subsection (2) is served a requirement to keep from then on whatever records may be necessary to enable them to comply with the notice (and to retain any relevant existing records they may already have). If someone who fails to keep adequate records after a notice has been served does not give the information required by the notice, and is then prosecuted under subsection (5), the failure to keep records will be taken into account in the proceedings in deciding whether the person had a "reasonable excuse" for not giving the information.
Commentary on Sections Section 2: Information and records for purposes of the Additional Protocol