Clause 35 - Account information
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 93, in
clause 35, page 21, line 9, leave out subsection (6).
The purpose of the amendment is to delete subsection (6), which states:
''An account monitoring order has effect in spite of any restriction on the disclosure of information (however imposed).''
This goes back to the point that we were discussing earlier, when I said to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome and the Minister, when she was suggesting that there was some kind or protection in the Data Protection Act 1998, that I do not think that it does that.
In relation to this part of the Bill, this is the occasion when we say that if subsection (6) were to stand, it would be too wide. There ought to be protections of the customer's privacy. I hope that the Minister understands that we wish to probe this matter. Members on the Opposition Benches would be interested to hear what she has to say about protection of customer privacy. The significance of that is that in this country the privacy of banking customers has always been sacrosanct. There are understandable reasons why, in trying to tackle international financial crime, the Government have to infringe on that traditional privacy to some extent, but we do not want them to be able to do so too widely, and this subsection goes too wide. I hope that the Minister understands that a balance must be struck. We want to strike it differently.