Cap. 492 Art. 11Public statements.

(1) The Commissioner may publish, by advertisement or otherwise, any information about a voluntary organisation, whether enrolled in terms of this Act or not, or about any person purporting to act on behalf of a voluntary organisation, when it appears to him to be in the interest of the public or of the organisation itself.

(2) Before publishing any information referred to in subarticle (1), the Commissioner shall, in writing, notify the administrators of the organisation, or the person purporting to act as stated in subarticle (1), with the proposed text and the recipient shall have five days from the date of receipt of such notice to discuss the same with the Commissioner and unless an agreement is reached between the Commissioner and the recipient, the Commissioner may proceed with publishing the information without any further requirements:

Provided that in cases of manifest abuse, fraud or other risks to the general public, the Commissioner may publish such information without prior notice as aforesaid: Provided further that the organisation or the person purporting the Commissioner, the Commissioner himself and any of his officials acting on his behalf shall be exempt from any liability or responsibility whether civil or criminal, in respect of any publication, statement or other communication or activity, which is bona fide and is intended solely for the better information, education or protection of the public. Such exemption shall extend to such persons publishing, printing, recording, broadcasting or notifying such information by any means whatsoever. For the purposes of this sub-article, a publication, statement, communication or activity shall be deemed to be bona fide when it is not made or undertaken recklessly or maliciously and adheres to the principles of fairness and objectivity. Any person alleging bad faith shall have the burden of proving such allegations.