Section 19: Protection against defamation
51.Subsection (1) provides that, for the purposes of the law of defamation, the following are absolutely privileged: (a) the Commissioner’s reports, (b) information disclosed by the Commissioner to the PSOW, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales or any other ombudsman with whom the Commissioner may co-operate, for the purposes of discharging any of the Commissioner’s functions, and (c) communications from the Commissioner to persons listed in subsection (3) in connection with the examination by him of an individual’s case. Absolute privilege provides a complete defence to defamation proceedings.
52.Subsection (2) provides that, for the purposes of the law of defamation, communications from persons listed in subsection (3) to the Commissioner in connection with the examination of a case have qualified privilege. Qualified privilege will not prevent a person bringing defamation proceedings. However, it will provide a conditional defence against such proceedings. The persons listed in subsection (3) are: the person whose case is being examined, the person whose conduct is the subject of the examination, any person with whom the Commissioner is communicating for the purposes of obtaining information about the case and any person acting on behalf of any of these.
