United Kingdom Statutory Instruments

"the Act" means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;

"Authority worker" means - 

(a) a person who is or has been employed by the Authority; or

(b) an auditor or expert instructed by the Authority;

"criminal investigation" means an investigation of any crime, including an investigation of any alleged or suspected crime and an investigation of whether a crime has been committed;

"dependent territory" means the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and any territory outside the British Islands for whose external relations the United Kingdom is responsible;

"dependent territory regulatory authority" means an overseas regulatory authority which exercises its functions in, and in relation to, a dependent territory;

"directive restrictions" means the restrictions imposed on the disclosure of information by article 25 of the investment services directive, article 30 of the banking consolidation directive, article 15 of the third life insurance directive, article 16 of the third non-life insurance directive, article 50 of the UCITS directive and article 25 of the listing particulars directive;

"disciplinary proceedings authority" means a person responsible for initiating prescribed disciplinary proceedings or determining the outcome of such proceedings;

"EEA competent authority" means a competent authority of an EEA state other than the United Kingdom for the purposes of any of the single market directives, the UCITS directive or the listing particulars directive;

"EEA regulatory authority" means an EEA competent authority or an overseas regulatory authority which exercises its functions in, and in relation to, an EEA State other than the United Kingdom;

"former regulated activities" means activities carried on before the coming into force of section 19 of the Act and which constitute - 

(a) by the Authority or an Authority worker for the purpose of enabling or assisting the person making the disclosure to discharge any public functions of the Authority or (if different) of the Authority worker;

(b) by the Secretary of State or a Secretary of State worker for the purpose of enabling or assisting the person making the disclosure to discharge any public functions of the Secretary of State or (if different) of the Secretary of State worker;

(c) by the Treasury for the purpose of enabling or assisting the Treasury to discharge any of their public functions.

(a) article 25.3 of the investment services directive;

(b) article 30.3 of the banking consolidation directive;

(c) article 15.3 of the third life insurance directive;

(d) article 16.3 of the third non-life insurance directive, or

(e) article 50.4 of the UCITS directive.

    (3) Paragraph (1) does not permit disclosure to a person specified in the first column in Part 4 of Schedule 1 - 

(a) of information obtained from an EEA competent authority, unless that authority has given its express consent to the disclosure; or

(b) of information obtained in the course of an on-the-spot verification of the kind referred to in - 


(i) article 24 of the investment services directive,

(ii) article 29 of the banking consolidation directive,

(iii) article 16 of the first life insurance directive, or

(iv) article 14 of the first non-life insurance directive,



unless the EEA competent authority of the state in which the on-the-spot verification was carried out has given its express consent to the disclosure.

(a) single market directive information;

(b) UCITS directive information; or

(c) confidential information received by the Authority - 


(i) in the course of discharging functions conferred by Part VI of the Act on the competent authority; and

(ii) from another competent authority designated for the purpose of the listing particulars directive, in the course of cooperating with that authority as provided for in article 24c.1 of that directive.

"pre-commencement information" means information which is subject to restrictions (with or without qualifications or exceptions) on disclosure by virtue of a pre-commencement provision;

"pre-commencement provision" means - 

(a) relates to the business or other affairs of any person; and

(b) was received by the primary recipient for the purposes of, or in the discharge of, any functions of the Financial Services Authority ("the FSA"), the competent authority for the purposes of Part VI of the Act (official listing - currently the FSA) or the Secretary of State, under any provision made by or under the Act.

But information is not "confidential information" if it has previously been lawfully made available to the public, or is in the form of a summary or collection of information which is so framed that it is not possible to ascertain from it information relating to any particular person.

"Primary recipients" of confidential information are the FSA, the Secretary of State; persons employed by them, or auditors or experts instructed by them; or a person appointed to make a report under section 166 of the Act (reports by skilled persons).

Disclosure of confidential information in breach of section 348, or use of such information in breach of the Regulations, is an offence under section 352 of the Act.

Part II of these Regulations sets out the circumstances in which confidential information may be disclosed by or to the FSA, the Secretary of State or the Treasury; for the purposes of criminal proceedings and investigations; for the purposes of certain civil proceedings; or in pursuance of a Community obligation. Regulation 7 provides that where information is disclosed subject to a restriction on use, it may not be used in breach of that condition without the consent of the person who disclosed it.

Part III makes provision for the disclosure of information which is subject to restrictions on disclosure in the EC directives relating to financial services. Such information - subject to the provisions of regulation 9 - may be disclosed to or by the persons listed in Schedule 1, for the purposes of the functions indicated there.

Part IV makes provision for the disclosure of information which is not subject to directive restrictions. Such information may be disclosed by or to the persons listed in Schedules 1 and 2, for the purposes of the functions indicated there; or for the purposes of certain disciplinary proceedings, as set out in Schedule 3.

Part V makes transitional provision about information obtained under former financial services legislation (to be repealed under the Act). Before the repeal of that legislation, information obtained under it may be disclosed for certain purposes permitted by these Regulations (regulation 14). After the repeal of that legislation, such information is to be treated in the same way as "confidential information" under the Act, and is to be subject to the provisions on disclosure in these Regulations (regulation 15).