Cap. 50 Art. 8International relations.

(1) A person who is or has been a public servant or government contractor is guilty of an offence if without lawful authority he makes a damaging disclosure of -

(a) any information, document or other article relating to international relations; or

(b) any confidential information, document or other article which was obtained from a State other than Malta or an international organisation, being information or a document or article which is or has been in his possession by virtue of his position as a public servant or government contractor.

(2) For the purposes of subarticle (1) a disclosure is damaging if -

(a) it endangers the interests of Malta abroad, seriously obstructs the promotion or protection by Malta of those interests or endangers the safety of Maltese citizens abroad; or

(b) it is of information or of a document or article which is such that its unauthorised disclosure would be likely to have any of those effects.

(3) In the case of information or a document or article within paragraph (b) of subarticle (1) -

(a) the fact that it is confidential, or

(b) its nature or contents, may be sufficient to establish for the purpose of paragraph (b) of subarticle (2) that the information, document or article is such that its unauthorised disclosure would be likely to have any of the effects there mentioned. subarticle (1) or that its disclosure would be damaging within the meaning of that subarticle.

(5) In this article "international relations" means the relations between States, between international organisations or between one or more States and one or more such organisations and includes any matter relating to a State other than Malta or to an international organisation which is capable of affecting the relations of Malta with another State or with an international organisation.

(6) For the purposes of this article any information, document or article obtained from a State or organisation is confidential at any time while the terms on which it was obtained require it to be held in confidence or while the circumstances in which it was obtained make it reasonable for the State or organisation to expect that it would be so held.