Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013
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Privileged legal material. |
33.— (1) In this section— | |
“the Court” means the High Court; | ||
“privileged legal material” means information which, in the opinion of the High Court, a person is entitled to refuse to produce on the grounds of legal professional privilege. | ||
(2) If a person refuses to produce information or give access to it, pursuant to a requirement under this Part, on the grounds that the information contains privileged legal material, the Bank may, at any time within 6 months (or such longer period as the Court may allow) of the date of such refusal, apply to the Court for a determination as to whether the information, or any part of the information, is privileged legal material where— | ||
(a) in relation to the information concerned— | ||
(i) the Bank has reasonable grounds for believing that it is not privileged legal material, or | ||
(ii) due to the manner or extent to which such information is presented together with any other information, it is impossible or impractical to extract only such information, | ||
and | ||
(b) the Bank has reasonable grounds to suspect that the information contains evidence relating to the commission of a prescribed contravention or an offence under financial services legislation. | ||
(3) A person who refuses to produce information or give access to it, pursuant to a requirement under this Part, on the grounds that the information contains privileged legal material shall preserve the information and keep it in a safe and secure place and manner pending the determination of an application under subsection (2) and shall, if the information is so determined not to be privileged legal material, produce it in accordance with such order as the Court considers appropriate. | ||
(4) A person shall be considered to have complied with the requirement under subsection (3) to preserve information, where the person has complied with such requirements as may be imposed by an authorised officer under paragraph (g) or (h) of section 27 (1). | ||
(5) Where an application is made by the Bank under subsection (2), the Court may give such interim or interlocutory directions as the Court considers appropriate including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, directions as to the appointment of a person with suitable legal qualifications possessing the level of experience, and the independence from any interest falling to be determined between the parties concerned, that the Court considers to be appropriate for the purpose of— | ||
(a) examining the information, and | ||
(b) preparing a report for the Court with a view to assisting or facilitating the Court in the making by the Court of its determination as to whether the information is privileged legal material. | ||
(6) An application under subsection (2) shall be by motion and may, if the Court so directs, be heard otherwise than in public. |