Crynodeb
The Official Secrets Act 1989 replaced the notorious 'catch-all' section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, which had criminalised any unauthorised disclosure of official information. Instead it creates targeted offences for the unauthorised disclosure of information falling within defined protected categories: security and intelligence (s.1), defence (s.2), international relations (s.3), information useful to criminals or obtained through special investigation powers such as interception (s.4), information resulting from unauthorised disclosures or entrusted in confidence (s.5), and information entrusted in confidence to other states or international organisations (s.6). For most categories the disclosure must be 'damaging'; for members of the security and intelligence services, disclosure of any such information can be an offence. The Act provides no public-interest defence. The espionage provisions of the earlier Official Secrets Acts were overhauled by the National Security Act 2023, but the 1989 Act's disclosure offences remain in force.
Pwyntiau allweddol
- Replaced the discredited 'catch-all' s.2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 with category-specific offences
- Protected categories — security and intelligence (s.1), defence (s.2), international relations (s.3), crime and special investigation powers (s.4)
- Further offences for onward disclosure (s.5) and information entrusted in confidence to other states (s.6)
- For most categories the disclosure must be 'damaging'; for security/intelligence members, any disclosure can suffice (s.1)
- No public-interest defence; espionage now dealt with by the National Security Act 2023