Section 53 — Protection of persons giving information to inspecting officer, etc.

(1)A person who knows, or has reason to suspect, that an offence under this Act has been committed may make a notification to an inspecting officer of the facts and circumstances on which the person’s knowledge or suspicion is based.

(2)A person who makes a notification under subsection (1) —

(a)cannot, by virtue of doing so, be held in any proceedings before any court or tribunal or in any other respect to have breached any restriction on disclosure imposed by any rule of law, contract or rule of professional etiquette or ethics, or to have departed from any accepted form of professional conduct; and

(b)insofar as the person had acted in good faith, incurs no civil or criminal liability for making the notification or providing any information contained in the notification.

(3)A person appearing as a witness in any proceedings in any court or tribunal before a person authorised by law to hear evidence cannot be compelled —

(a)to disclose the identity of any person who has made a notification under subsection (1) or any information likely to lead to the disclosure of the identity of the person; or

(b)to produce any report or document (or any part of a report or document) which identifies, or is likely to identify, any person who has made a notification under subsection (1).