8.(1) The Authority shall, within six months after the end of the financial year, submit to the Minister a report on its activities for that year. (2) The accounts of the Authority shall be audited at the end of each financial year by the Auditor-General or an auditor designated by the Auditor-General. (3) The Minister shall cause the report and the audited accounts to be submitted to Parliament as soon as possible. Consultations 9. The Authority may, where it considers appropriate and practicable, consult with relevant bodies and organisations or the public in performing its functions and exercising its powers under this Act. Obligations of the Authority 10. In the performance of its functions, the Authority shall have regard to – (a) any general policies of the government notified to it by the Minister under section 6; (b) obligations under any convention to which Kiribati is a party. Provision of information 11.(1)(a) The Authority may require any particular operator or class of operators to adopt any method of identifying the costs of providing telecommunication services and to adopt any accounting method or system of accounts for the purposes of complying with this Act or the exercise of a power conferred on the Authority. (b) Any such accounting system or method shall not be contrary to the accounting requirements of the Kiribati companies legislation. (2) The Authority may require any particular operator or class of operators to submit information to the Authority, in periodic reports or in such other form and manner as the Authority considers necessary for the purposes of this Act. (3) Where the Authority believes that a person other than an operator is in possession of information which the Authority considers necessary for the fulfilment of its role under this Act, the Authority may require that person to submit the information to the Authority in such form and in such manner at the Authority may specify. (4) No person referred to in this section shall be compelled to produce any document which they could not be compelled to produce in any civil proceedings. Use of information 12.(1) Subject to subsection (2) and with the exception of designated information, the Authority shall make available for public inspection information submitted to it in the course of the performance of its functions under this Act. (2) (a) Neither the Authority nor any servant or agent of the Authority shall knowingly disclose or knowingly allow to be disclosed designated information to any person where the disclosure is calculated or likely to be to the benefit of any person or to the detriment of the person to whose business or affairs the information relates. (b) This subsection shall apply whether or not the person who discloses designated information has ceased to be the Authority or an employee or agent of the Authority. (3) Where designated information is submitted in the course of proceedings before the Authority, the Authority may disclose it or require its disclosure if it determines, after considering any representations from interested persons, that the disclosure is in the public interest. (4) In this section, “designated information” means information submitted to the Authority by an operator and designated as confidential by that operator. Charges for services provided by the Authority 7 7