General
17 Protection from actions of defamation
(1)
For the purposes of the law of defamation, any statement made in pursuance of the purposes of this Act—
(a)
by the Commissioner F1or any of the employees of the Commission for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland shall have absolute privilege; or
(b)
to the Commissioner F2or any of those employees shall have qualified privilege.
(2)
In subsection (1), “statement” has the same meaning as in the Defamation Act 1996 (c.31).