Cap. 50 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

"disclose" and "disclosure" in relation to a document or other article, include parting with possession of it;

"document" includes part of a document;

"government contractor" means subject to article (3), any person who is not a public servant but who provides, or is employed in the provision of, goods or services -

(a) for the purposes of any Minister or Parliamentary Secretary, of any of the services, forces or bodies mentioned in the definition of public servant or of the holder of any office prescribed under that definition; or

(b) under an agreement or arrangement certified by the Prime Minister or by the Minister as being one to which the government of a State other than Malta or an international organisation is a party or which is subordinate to, or made for the purposes of implementing, any such agreement or arrangement;

"international organisation" means, subject to the following subarticles of this article, an organisation of which only States are members and includes a reference to any organ of such an organisation; "Minister" means the Minister from time to time designated by the Prime Minister as being responsible for the Security Service; "model" includes design, pattern, and specimen; "munitions of war" includes the whole or any part of any ship, submarine, aircraft, tank, or similar engine, arms and ammunition, torpedo or mine intended or adapted for use in war, and any other article, material or device, whether actual or proposed, intended for such use; "offence under this Act" includes any act, omission, or other

*See Proclamation No. IV of 1923. "prohibited place" means -

(a) any work of defence, arsenal, naval military or airforce establishment or station, with the water adjacent thereto, factory, dockyard, mine, minefield, camp, ship or aircraft belonging to or occupied by or on behalf of the Government of Malta, or any telegraph, telephone, wireless or signal station or office so belonging or occupied, and any place belonging to or occupied by or on behalf of the Government of Malta and used for the purpose of building, repairing, making or storing any munitions of war, or any sketches, plans, models or documents relating thereto, or for the purpose of getting any metals, oils or minerals of use in time of war; and

(b) any place not belonging to the Government of Malta where any munitions of war or any sketches, models, plans, or documents relating thereto, are being made, repaired, gotten, or stored under contract with, or with any person on behalf of the Government of Malta or otherwise on behalf of the Government of Malta; and

(c) any place belonging to or used for the purposes of the Government of Malta which is for the time being declared by the Prime Minister to be a prohibited place for the purposes of this article on the ground that information with respect thereto, or damage thereto, would be useful to any enemy; and

(d) any road, way, or channel, or other means of communication by land or water (including any works or structures being part thereof or connected therewith) or any place used for gas, water, or electricity works or other works for purposes of a public character, or any place where any munitions of war or any ships, arms, or other materials or instruments of use in time of war, or any sketches, models, plans or documents relating thereto, are being made, repaired, or stored otherwise than on behalf of the Government of Malta, which is for the time being declared by the Prime Minister to be a prohibited place for the purposes of this article, on the ground that information with respect thereto, or the destruction or obstruction thereof, or interference therewith, would be useful to any enemy;

"public servant" means -

(a) a Minister or Parliamentary Secretary;

(b) any public officer;

(c) any member of and any other person employed or appointed in or for the purposes of the Armed Forces State;

(e) any person who is a member or employee of a prescribed body or a body of a prescribed class and either is prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph or belongs to a prescribed class of members or employees of any such body;

(f) any person who is the holder of a prescribed office or who is an employee of such a holder and either is prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph or belongs to a prescribed class of such employees; "Security Service"means the service referred to in the Security

Service Act; "sketch" includes any photograph or other mode of representing any place or thing; "State" includes the government of a State and any organ of its government.

(2) In this Act -expressions referring to communicating or receiving include any communication or receiving, whether in whole or in part, and whether the sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or information itself or the substance, effect, or description thereof only be communicated or received; expressions referring to obtaining or retaining any sketch, plan, model, article, note, or document, include the copying or causing to be copied the whole or any part of any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document; and expressions referring to the communication of any sketch, plan, model, article, note, or document, include the transfer or transmission of the sketch, plan, model, article, note or document.

(3) Where an employee or class of employees of any body, or of any holder of an office, is prescribed by an order made for the purposes of the definition of public servant in subarticle (1) -

(a) any employee of that body, or of the holder of that office, who is not prescribed or is not within the prescribed class; and

(b) any person who does not provide, or is not employed in the provision of goods or services for the purposes of the performance of those functions of the body or the holder of the office in connection with which the employee or prescribed class of employees is engaged, shall not be a government contractor for the purposes of this Act. commercial organisation.

(b) In determining for the purposes of subarticle (1) whether only States are members of an organisation, any member which is itself an organisation of which only States are members, or which is an organ of such an organ of such an organisation, shall be treated as a State.