13.—(1) Save as otherwise provided by law, a person shall not disclose confidential information obtained by him or her while performing duties as a member of, or as a member of the staff of, or an adviser or consultant to, or as an authorised officer of, the Commission, unless he or she is duly authorised by the Commission to do so.

F224[(1A) In subsection (1) “duties” means duties falling to be performed in the course of the performance by the Commission of its functions under this Act, the Gas (Amendment) Act, 2000, F225[the Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002 or the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013.]]

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a F226[class A fine] or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months or, at the discretion of the District Court, to both such fine and imprisonment.

(3) (a) In this section “confidential information” means that which is expressed by the Commission to be confidential either as regards particular information or as regards information of a particular class or description.

(b) In expressing information to be confidential, the Commission shall have regard to the requirement to protect information of a confidential commercial nature.

(4) The Freedom of Information Act, 1997, is hereby amended in the Third Schedule thereto by the addition to Part I at the end thereof—

(a) in column (2), of “Electricity Regulation Act, 1999.”, and

(b) in column (3), of “Section 13.”.