Cap. 50 Art. 10Information resulting from unauthorised disclosures or entrusted in confidence.

(1) Subarticle (2) applies where -

(a) any information, document or other article protected against disclosure by the foregoing provisions of this

Act has come into a person's possession as a result of having been -

(i) disclosed (whether to him or another) by a public servant or government contractor without lawful authority; or

(ii) entrusted to him by a public servant or government contractor on terms requiring it to be held in confidence or in circumstances in which the public servant or Government contractor could reasonably expect that it would be so held; or

(iii) disclosed (whether to him or another) without lawful authority by a person to whom it was entrusted as mentioned in sub-paragraph (ii); and

(b) the disclosure without lawful authority of the information, document or article by the person into whose possession it has come is not an offence under any of those provisions.

(2) Subject to subarticles (3) and (4), the person into whose possession the information, document or article has come is guilty of an offence if he discloses it without lawful authority knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that it is protected against disclosure by the foregoing provisions of this Act and that it has come into his possession as mentioned in subarticle (1).

(3) In the case or information or a document or article protected against disclosure by articles 6 to 8, a person does not commit an offence under subarticle (2) unless -

(a) the disclosure by him is damaging; and

(b) he makes it knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that it would be damaging; and the question whether a disclosure is damaging shall be determined for the purposes of this subarticle as it would be in relation to a disclosure of that information, document or article by a public servant in contravention of article 6(3), article 7(1) or article 8(1).

(4) A person does not commit an offence under subarticle (2) in

(b) as mentioned in subarticle (1)(a)(iii), unless that disclosure was by a Maltese citizen or took place in Malta.

(5) For the purposes of this article information or a document or article is protected against disclosure by the foregoing provisions of this Act if -

(a) it relates to security, defence or international relations within the meaning of article 6, 7 or 8 or is such as is mentioned in article 8(1)(b); or

(b) it is information or a document or article to which article 9 applies;

and information or a document or article is protected against disclosure by articles 6 to 8 if it falls within paragraph (a).

(6) A person is guilty of an offence if without lawful authority be discloses any information, document or other article which he knows, or has reasonable cause to believe to have come into his possession as a result of a contravention of article 3.