Postal Services Act 2000

48 Information powers: enforcement

(1) A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, he fails to do anything required of him by a notice under section 47.

(2) A person commits an offence if he intentionally obstructs or delays any person in the exercise of his powers under section 47(3).

(3) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (2) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(4) A person commits an offence if he—

(a) intentionally alters, suppresses or destroys any document which he has been required to produce by a notice under section 47, or

(b) in supplying any information required of him by a notice under section 47, makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular.

(5) A person who commits an offence under subsection (4) shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum,

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

(6) If a person makes default in complying with a notice under section 47, the court may, on the application of the Commission, make such order as the court considers appropriate for requiring the default to be made good.

(7) Any such order may, in particular, provide that all the costs or expenses of and incidental to the application shall be borne—

(a) by the person in default, or

(b) if officers of a company or other association are responsible for its default, by those officers.

(8) The reference in this section to the production of a document includes a reference to the production of a legible and intelligible copy of information recorded otherwise than in legible form; and the reference to suppressing a document includes a reference to destroying the means of reproducing information recorded otherwise than in legible form.

(9) In this section “the court”—

(a) in relation to England and Wales or Northern Ireland, means the High Court, and

(b) in relation to Scotland, means the Court of Session.