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- Original (As enacted)
This is the original version (as it was originally enacted).
(1)A person commits an offence if—
(a)the person—
(i)obtains, copies, records or retains protected information, or
(ii)discloses or provides access to protected information,
(b)the person’s conduct is for a purpose that they know, or having regard to other matters known to them ought reasonably to know, is prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom, and
(c)the foreign power condition is met in relation to the person’s conduct (see section 31).
(2)In this section “protected information” means any information, document or other article where, for the purpose of protecting the safety or interests of the United Kingdom—
(a)access to the information, document or other article is restricted in any way, or
(b)it is reasonable to expect that access to the information, document or other article would be restricted in any way.
(3)Subsection (1) applies whether the person’s conduct takes place in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.
(4)A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life or a fine (or both).
(5)For the purposes of this section—
(a)a person retains protected information if the person retains it in their possession or under their control;
(b)disclosure includes parting with possession.
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Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.
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