18.—(1) For the purposes of the law of defamation, any publication to which this Article applies shall be absolutely privileged.
(2) This Article applies to—
(a)the publication of any matter by the Ombudsman in making a report to the Assembly for the purposes of this Order;
(b)the publication of any matter by a member of the Assembly in communicating with the Ombudsman or his officers for those purposes or by the Ombudsman or his officers in communicating with such a member for those purposes;
(c)the publication by a member of the Assembly to the person by whom a complaint was made under this Order of a report or statement sent to the member in respect of the complaint in pursuance of Article 16(1);
(d)the publication by the Ombudsman to such a person as is mentioned in paragraph (2) of Article 16 of a report sent to that person in pursuance of that paragraph.
F1functions transf. by SR 1999/481