(1) The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs may disclose information to a person authorised under section 457 for the purpose of facilitating -
(a) the taking of steps by that person to discover whether there are grounds for an application to the court under section 456 (application in respect of defective accounts etc), or
(b) a decision by the authorised person whether to make such an application.
(2) This section applies despite any statutory or other restriction on the disclosure of information.
Provided that, in the case of personal data within the meaning of Parts 5 to 7 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3(2) and (14) of that Act), information is not to be disclosed in contravention of the data protection legislation.
(3) Information disclosed to an authorised person under this section -
(a) may not be used except in or in connection with -
(i) taking steps to discover whether there are grounds for an application to the court under section 456, or
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