s 102 Returns not to be published or disclosed
102.—(1) Any return of particulars or information or part of a return furnished, or answer to any question put, for the purposes of this Act must not, without the previous written consent of the person having the control, management or superintendence of the profession, business, trade or work in relation to which the return or answer was furnished or given, be published; and, except for the purposes of a prosecution under this Act, any person not engaged in connection with the collection or preparation of statistics under this Act must not be permitted to see any such individual return or any such part of an individual return. (2) Every person engaged in connection with the collection, preparation or publication of statistics under this Act must make a declaration in the prescribed form that the person will not disclose or, except for the purposes of this Act, make use of the contents of any such part of an individual return, or any such answer; and any person who knowingly acts in contravention of any declaration which the person has so made shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both. (3) In any report, summary of statistics, or other publication prepared under this Act with reference to any trade or industry, the particulars comprised in any return must not be disclosed in any manner whatever, or arranged in any way which would enable any person to identify any particulars so published as being particulars relating to any individual person or business. (4) If any person, having possession of any information which to the person’s knowledge has been disclosed in contravention of this section, publishes or communicates to any other person any such information, the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both. (5) Subsections (1) to (4) do not apply to any information furnished under section 96A by an employer on the retrenchment of any employee by the employer.[55/2018]