Defamation
15Protection from actions of defamation
(1)For the purposes of the law of defamation—
(a)any statement made by the Commissioner or any of the Commissioner’s staff—
(i)in conducting an investigation under this Act;
(ii)in communicating with any person for the purposes of such an investigation; or
(iii)in a report published under this Act,
has absolute privilege;
(b)any other statement made by the Commissioner or any of the Commissioner’s staff in pursuance of the purposes of this Act has qualified privilege; and
(c)any statement made to the Commissioner or any of the Commissioner’s staff in pursuance of those purposes has qualified privilege.
(2)In subsection (1), “statement” has the same meaning as in the Defamation Act 1996 (c. 31).