Section 44
Protection of informer
of Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024
Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3), no witness in any civil or criminal proceedings shall be obliged or permitted to disclose the name, address or any information of an informer, or the substance of the information received from him, or state any matter which might lead to the discovery of the informer.
(2)
If any books, records, accounts, documents or computerized data which are produced in evidence or liable to inspection in any civil or criminal proceedings contain any entry in which any informer is named or described or which might lead to his discovery, the court shall cause all the passages to be concealed from view or to be obliterated so far only as may be necessary to protect the informer from discovery.
(3)
If in the trial for any offence under this Act, the court, after full enquiry into the case believes that the informer wilfully made in his complaint a material statement which he knew to be false or did not believe to be true, or if in any other proceedings the court is of the opinion that justice cannot be fully done between the parties in those proceedings without the discovery of the informer, it shall be lawful for the court to require the production of the original complaint, if in writing, and permit enquiry and require full disclosure, concerning the informer.