New South Wales Consolidated Acts

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MOTOR ACCIDENTS COMPENSATION ACT 1999 - SECT 217

Secrecy of information obtained from or relating to insurers or proposed insurers and other persons

217 Secrecy of information obtained from or relating to insurers or proposed insurers and other persons

(cf s 132B MAA)

(1) A person who acquires protected information in the exercise of functions under this Act must not, directly or indirectly, make a record of the information or divulge the information to another person if the person is aware that it is protected information, except in the exercise of functions under this Act.
: Maximum penalty--50 penalty units.
(2) Despite subsection (1), protected information may be divulged--
(a) to a particular person or persons, if the Authority certifies that it is necessary in the public interest that the information be divulged to the person or persons, or
(b) to a prescribed person or prescribed authority, or
(c) to a person who is expressly or impliedly authorised to obtain it by the person to whom the information relates, or
(d) to the Minister.
(3) A person cannot be required--
(a) to produce in any court any document or other thing that contains protected information and that has come into the person's possession, custody or control by reason of, or in the course of, the exercise of the person's functions under this Act, or
(b) to divulge to any court any protected information that has come to the person's notice in the exercise of the person's functions under this Act.
(4) Despite subsection (3), a person may be required to produce such a document or other thing in a court or to divulge protected information to a court if--
(a) the Authority certifies that it is necessary in the public interest to do so, or
(b) a person to whom the information relates (or to whom the information contained in the document or thing relates) has expressly authorised it to be divulged to or produced in the court.
(5) An authority or person to whom protected information is divulged under subsection (2), and a person or employee under the control of that authority or person, are, in respect of that information, subject to the same rights, privileges and duties under this section as they would be if that authority, person or employee were a person exercising functions under this Act and had acquired the information in the exercise of those functions.
(6) This section does not apply to the divulging of information to, or the production of any document or other thing to--
(a) any law enforcement agency, or
(b) any person or body prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.
(7) In this section--

"court" includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.

"functions under this Act" includes functions under the regulations or other instruments under this Act.

"produce" includes permit access to.

"protected information" means--
(a) information concerning the business, commercial, professional or financial affairs of an applicant for a licence under this Act or of a licensed insurer, or
(b) information obtained in the course of an investigation of an application for such a licence, or
(c) information that was obtained by the Authority under this Act from a licensed insurer and that is the subject of an unrevoked declaration by the licensed insurer to the effect that the information is confidential, or
(d) information concerning the business, commercial, professional or financial affairs of the provider of a passenger service or a booking service or the holder of a taxi licence under the Point to Point Transport (Taxis and Hire Vehicles) Act 2016 ,
not being information that is publicly available.



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