11Officers to observe secrecy

#### 11 Officers to observe secrecy (1) Every person executing any power or duty conferred or imposed on an officer under this Act or the Regulations thereunder shall, before entering upon his duties or exercising any power under this Act, make before a Justice of the Peace or a Commissioner for taking Affidavits or a Commissioner for Declarations, a declaration in the form prescribed. (2) Any person who acts in the execution of any duty under this Act, or the Regulations thereunder, before he has made the prescribed declaration, or who after making the declaration makes a record of or divulges any information relating to the affairs of a person except in the performance of any duty under this Act shall be guilty of an offence. Penalty: Five hundred dollars. (3) Any person who has been an officer or has performed any duty under this Act, and who communicates any information acquired by him in the performance of any duty under this Act or the Regulations thereunder to any person, other than a person to whom he is authorized by the Commissioner, a Second Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner to communicate it, shall be guilty of an offence. Penalty: Five hundred dollars. (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the Commissioner, a Second Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner may communicate any matter, which comes to his knowledge in the performance of his official duties, to the Tribunal in connection with proceedings under an Act of which the Commissioner has the general administration, to the Commissioner of Income Tax for any State, or the officer or authority administering any Act of a State relating to Stamp Duties or Succession Duties (who is authorized by law to afford similar information to the Commissioner, a Second Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner) or to the Comptroller‑General of Customs. (5) Where any matter is communicated to the Tribunal in pursuance of this section and that matter consists of returns or declarations, or information derived from the returns or declarations, of a person other than the employer directly concerned in the review in the course of which the communication is made, the members of the Tribunal shall be subject to the same obligation as is imposed by subsection (3) of this section upon a person who has been an officer under this Act. (6) An officer shall not be required to produce in any court any return, assessment or notice of assessment, or to divulge or communicate to any court any matter or thing coming under his notice in the performance of his duties under this Act except as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Act. (7) Where the Treasurer is satisfied that it is desirable to do so for the purpose of enabling the Government of the Commonwealth to review the operation of the provisions of this Act, relating to rebates of tax by reference to exports, he may, by writing under his hand, request the Commissioner to communicate to him, or to a person specified in the request, being a Minister of State, the Secretary to the Department of the Treasury or the Secretary to the Department of Trade and Resources, information relating to such matters as are specified in the request, and, notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the Commissioner, or an officer authorized by him, shall communicate information relating to those matters to the person specified in the request. (8) The Secretary to the Department of the Treasury, the Secretary to the Department of Trade and Resources or any other officer or employee of the Commonwealth shall not, either while he is, or after he ceases to be, such an officer or employee: (a) except in the performance of a duty as an officer or employee of the Commonwealth, make a record of, or divulge or communicate to a Minister of State or any other officer or employee of the Commonwealth, any information relating to the affairs of a person acquired by him by reason, directly or indirectly, of a communication in accordance with the last preceding subsection; or (b) divulge or communicate any such information to any person who is not a Minister of State or officer or employee of the Commonwealth. Penalty: Five hundred dollars. (9) A person to whom the last preceding subsection applies shall not be required to produce in any court a document containing information referred to in that subsection or to divulge or communicate to a court any such information.