Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Accidents) Act 2025
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Confidentiality | ||
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28. (1) In the course of performing his or her functions under this Act, an investigator, unless otherwise authorised by the designated person or required by law, shall ensure that he or she maintains confidentiality in respect of all matters arising in respect of those functions. | ||
(2) Officers of the Minister assigned to the MAIU but not in the role of investigator shall ensure that they maintain confidentiality with respect to the work of the MAIU. | ||
(3) Officers of the Minister not assigned to the MAIU to whom access to information and documents is granted for the purposes of administrative and information technology functions shall ensure that the confidentiality of documents and other information relating to marine safety investigations is maintained. | ||
(4) A person, being a civil servant, who contravenes this section shall be subject to disciplinary procedures. | ||
(5) A consultant or adviser who has been engaged by the Minister pursuant to section 13 , or any person acting on behalf of or employed by such consultant or adviser, shall ensure that the confidentiality of documents, objects and other information shared with him or her is maintained. | ||
(6) Where, in the course of a marine safety investigation, the Chief Investigator is informed of or has reasonable grounds to suspect that a consultant or adviser has not maintained confidentiality in accordance with subsection (5), he or she may arrange for the termination of the agreement under which the consultant or adviser was engaged and, where the agreement is terminated, shall notify the designated person of the termination of the agreement and the reasons for it. | ||
(7) Nothing in this section shall operate to prevent the disclosure of information to an investigator. | ||
(8) In this section, and without prejudice to Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2018— | ||
(a) the maintenance of confidentiality means that a person who has that obligation under this section shall not, without the specific authorisation of the Chief Investigator or the designated person, as appropriate, disclose to another person (other than to members of staff in the Department of Transport working in units in that Department which are responsible for human resources or information technology) information that relates to a marine safety investigation or a preliminary assessment, and | ||
(b) “confidential information” means the following: | ||
(i) all witness evidence and other statements, accounts and notes taken or received by the MAIU in the course of a marine safety investigation; | ||
(ii) records revealing the identity of persons who have given evidence in the course of a marine safety investigation; | ||
(iii) information relating to persons involved in a marine accident that is of a particularly sensitive and private nature, including information concerning the health of such persons; | ||
(iv) subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2014 , information that is expressed by the MAIU to be confidential either as regards particular information or as regards information of a particular class or description. |