Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1975 > Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities > Report No. 22 - Statutory instruments [9] made under the European Communities Act 1972

APPENDIX II.

European Communities (Statistical Surveys) Regulations, 1975 [S.I. No. 160 of 1975].

An Rúnaí,

Roinn an Taoisigh.

I refer to your letter (S19558) of 5 Meán Fómhair 1975 requesting observations on a query from the Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities.

The drafting of the Regulations mentioned was done in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General. In the view of this Office and that of the Attorney General the penalties are necessary to cover the range of situations which could arise from the different types of surveys being covered in the same instrument. To give adequate protection in the matter of confidentiality of information gathered either from enterprises or households (e.g. by temporary field officers) it is essential to be able to show that there are relatively substantial penalties for disclosure. Moreover in the case of those surveys which seek information from the larger enterprises in the distribution, financial and insurance sectors monetary penalties of the order in question are considered a very necessary deterrent to non-respondents (although the policy of this Office is generally not to prosecute non-respondents). The range of possible violations of the EEC Regulations concerned is very wide but the penalties are maximum penalties and District Justices will have full discretion in each case, if and when convictions arise, to determine the size of penalty appropriate to the case.

19 Meán Fómhair, 1975.