Section 273 | Confidentiality

(1)No duty of confidentiality or other restriction on disclosure (however imposed) prevents the voluntary disclosure by a relevant client or a relevant intermediary to HMRC of information or documents about—

(za)a person subject to a stop notice,

(zb)arrangements or proposals for arrangements of a description specified in a stop notice in relation to which a person subject to a stop notice is a promoter,

(a)a monitored promoter, or

(b)relevant proposals or relevant arrangements in relation to which a monitored promoter is a promoter.

(2)“Relevant client” , in relation to a person mentioned in paragraph (za), (zb), (a) or (b) of subsection (1), means a person in relation to whom the person so mentioned—

(a)has made a firm approach in relation to an applicable proposal with a view to making the proposal available for implementation by that person or another person;

(b)has made an applicable proposal available for implementation by that person;

(c)took part in the organisation or management of applicable arrangements entered into by that person.

(3)“Relevant intermediary” means a person who is an intermediary in relation to an applicable proposal in relation to which the person mentioned in paragraphs (za), (zb), (a) or (b) of subsection (1) is a promoter.

(4)The applicable proposal or applicable arrangements mentioned in subsection (2) or (3) need not be the applicable proposals or applicable arrangements to which the disclosure relates.

(5)Nothing in this section authorises a disclosure of information that would contravene the data protection legislation (but in determining whether a disclosure would do so, take into account this section).

(6)For the purposes of this section, a person mentioned in subsection (1)(za) or (zb) is a promotor of arrangements or a proposal for arrangements if the person would be a promoter of those arrangements or proposal if those arrangements or that proposal were relevant arrangements or a relevant proposal (see section 235(2) to (6) and any regulations made under section 235(6)).

(7)In this section—

“applicable arrangements” means—

(a)in relation to a disclosure falling within subsection (1)(za) or (zb), arrangements falling within the description specified in the stop notice to which the disclosure relates, or

(b)in relation to a disclosure falling within subsection (1)(a) or (b), relevant arrangements;

“applicable proposal” means—

(a)in relation to a disclosure falling within subsection (1)(za) or (zb), a proposal for arrangements falling within the description specified in the stop notice to which the disclosure relates, or

(b)in relation to a disclosure falling within subsection (1)(a) or (b), a relevant proposal;

“the data protection legislation” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3(9) of that Act).