Appropriate permission granted by a person exercising a statutory function paras 9.19 to 9.21
Appropriate permission granted by a person exercising a statutory function
9.19 The police, SOCA, HMRC and members of HM Forces have appropriate permission, without requirement for permission to be granted by a judicial authority, in relation to protected information:
- likely to be, or has been, obtained by the exercise of a statutory power (and is not information obtained under a warrant issued by the Secretary of State or a person holding judicial office, or an authorisation under Part III of the Police Act 1997, or information obtained by the intelligence services), for example material obtained by the police under section 19 of PACE;
- that is likely to be provided or disclosed, or has been provided or disclosed, in pursuance of a statutory duty;
- that is likely to come into possession of, or is in the possession of, the police, SOCA, HMRC or a member of HM Forces under statute.
9.20 In these circumstances, if a section 49 notice is to require disclosure, such permission may be given in line with the general requirements relating to appropriate permission.
9.21 Otherwise a person shall not have the appropriate permission unless he is the person:
- exercised the statutory power (or is a person who could have exercised it); or
- to whom the protected information was provided or disclosed (or is a person to whom provision or disclosure of the information would have discharged the statutory duty); or
- is such a person when the power is exercised or the protected information provided or disclosed.