Commentary Section 3: Offences
23.In order to protect information supplied under the Act against further disclosure, section 3 makes it an offence for certain persons to disclose such information without “lawful authority” as defined in subsection (6). The penalties available on conviction (see subsection (7)) are the same as those for comparable offences under section 123 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992. The offence may be committed either−
	under subsection (1), by a relevant person (as defined in section 1(4)) who has received information under section 1 directly from the Secretary of State, DSDNI, a local authority or a Health and Social Services Board, or indirectly from another relevant person (see paragraph 15 above for an illustration); or
	under subsection (2), by a person who is or has been employed by a relevant person, or engaged (e.g. as a consultant, rather than an “employee” in the strict legal sense) to carry out a switchover help function, or to provide services or carry out a function connected with carrying out a switchover help function.
24.It is not an offence to disclose information in summary form, such as a statistical analysis, such that no information relating to a particular person can be ascertained from it (subsection (4)(a)), or to disclose it (subsection (4)(b)) in circumstances where the information in question has already been made public with lawful authority.
25.Also, the person charged has a defence if he can prove that, even though in fact the disclosure was made without lawful authority or was a disclosure of information that had not previously been made public with such authority, he believed that one or other of those conditions was met, and had no reason to believe that they were not met: subsection (5). In principle, this reverses the burden of proof in this respect. In criminal matters it is usually up to the prosecution to prove the case beyond all reasonable doubt, but here the defendant must prove the matters that go to make up the defence. The standard of proof is the balance of probabilities.
26.The meaning of “lawful authority” is given in subsection (6). A disclosure is made “with lawful authority” if (but only if) it is made—
	for the purpose of carrying out a switchover help function (as defined in section 1(5)) or for doing anything connected with the carrying out of such a function;
	in accordance with any enactment or a court order;
	for the purposes of court proceedings;
	with the consent of the person to whom the information relates or a person authorised to act on his or her behalf.
27.Subsection (7) provides that any person found guilty of an offence under this provision is liable−
28.Subsection (8) is a transitional provision in England and Wales and Scotland, but has indefinite effect in Northern Ireland. Where an offence is committed before the coming into force (in England and Wales) of section 154 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 or is committed in Northern Ireland, or a prosecution takes place (in Scotland) before the commencement of section 35(1) of the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007, subsection (7)(b) has effect as if it provided for a maximum term of imprisonment not exceeding six months.