Protection of Trading Interests Act 1980
Protection of TradingInterests Act 1980
1980 CHAPTER 11
An Act to provide protection from requirements, prohibitions and judgments imposed or given under the laws of countries outside the United Kingdom and affecting the trading or other interests of persons in the United Kingdom.
[20th March 1980]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Overseas measures affecting United Kingdom trading interests.
(1) If it appears to the Secretary of State—
(a ) that measures have been or are proposed to be taken by or under the law of any overseas country for regulating or controlling international trade; and
(b ) that those measures, in so far as they apply or Would apply to things done or to be done outside the territorial jurisdiction of that country by persons carrying on business in the United Kingdom, are damaging or threaten to damage the trading interests of the United Kingdom,
the Secretary of State may by order direct that this section shall apply to those measures either generally or in their application to such cases as may be specified in the order.
(2) The Secretary of State may by order make provision for requiring, or enabling the Secretary of State to require, a person in the United Kingdom who carries on business there to give notice to the Secretary of State of any requirement or prohibition imposed or threatened to be imposed on that person pursuant to any measures in so far as this section applies to them by virtue of an order under subsection (1) above.
(3) The Secretary of State may give to any person in the United Kingdom who carries on business there such directions for prohibiting compliance with any such requirement or prohibition as aforesaid as he considers appropriate for avoiding damage to the trading interests of the United Kingdom.
(4) The power of the Secretary of State to make orders under subsection (1) or (2) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(5) Directions under subsection (3) above may be either general or special and may prohibit compliance with any requirement or prohibition either absolutely or in such cases or subject to such conditions as to consent or otherwise as may be specified in the directions; and general directions under that subsection shall be published in such manner as appears to the Secretary of State to be appropriate.
(6) In this section ‘trade’ includes any activity carried on in the course of a business of any description and ‘trading interests’ shall be construed accordingly.
2 Documents and information required by overseas courts and authorities.
(1) If it appears to the Secretary of State—
(a ) that a requirement has been or may be imposed on a person or persons in the United Kingdom to produce to any court, tribunal or authority of an overseas country any commercial document which is not within the territorial jurisdiction of that country or to furnish any commercial information to any such court, tribunal or authority; or
(b ) that any such authority has imposed or may impose a requirement on a person or persons in the United Kingdom to publish any such document or information,
the Secretary of State may, if it appears to him that the requirement is inadmissible by virtue of subsection (2) or (3) below, give directions for prohibiting compliance with the requirement.
(2) A requirement such as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a ) or (b ) above is inadmissible—
(a ) if it infringes the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom or is otherwise prejudicial to the sovereignty of the United Kingdom; or
(b ) if compliance with the requirement would be prejudicial to the security of the United Kingdom or to the relations of the government of the United Kingdom with the government of any other country.
(3) A requirement such as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a ) above is also inadmissible—
(a ) if it is made otherwise than for the purposes of civil or criminal proceedings which have been instituted in the overseas country; or
(b ) if it requires a person to state what documents relevant to any such proceedings are or have been in his possession, custody or power or to produce for the purposes of any such proceedings any documents other than particular documents specified in the requirement.
(4) Directions under subsection (1) above may be either general or special and may prohibit compliance with any requirement either absolutely or in such cases or subject to such conditions as to consent or otherwise as may be specified in the directions; and general directions under that subsection shall be published in such manner as appears to the Secretary of State to be appropriate.
(5) For the purposes of this section the making of a request or demand shall be treated as the imposition of a requirement if it is made in circumstances in which a requirement to the same effect could be or could have been imposed; and
(a ) any request or demand for the supply of a document or information which, pursuant to the requirement of any court, tribunal or authority of an overseas country, is addressed to a person in the United Kingdom; or
(b ) any requirement imposed by such a court, tribunal or authority to produce or furnish any document or information to a person specified in the requirement,
shall be treated as a requirement to produce or furnish that document or information to that court, tribunal or authority.
(6) In this section ‘commercial document’ and ‘commercial information’ mean respectively a document or information relating to a business of any description and ‘document’ includes any record or device by means of which material is recorded or stored.
3 Offences under ss. 1 and 2.
(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any requirement imposed under subsection (2) of section 1 above or knowingly contravenes any directions given under subsection (3) of that section or section 2(1) above shall be guilty of an offence and liable—
(a ) on conviction on indictment, to a fine;
(b ) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.
(2) A person who is neither a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies nor a body corporate incorporated in the United Kingdom shall not be guilty of an offence under subsection (1) above by reason of anything done or omitted outside the United Kingdom in contravention of directions under section 1(3) or 2(1) above.
(3) No proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) above shall be instituted in England, Wales or Northern Ireland except by the Secretary of State or...
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