17Protection from actions for defamationS
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(1)For the purposes of the law of defamation—
(a)any statement made by the Commission—
(i)in conducting an inquiry,
(ii)in communicating with any person for the purposes of an inquiry, or
(iii)in a report of an inquiry,
has absolute privilege,
(b)any other statement made by it in pursuance of the purposes of this Act has qualified privilege, and
(c)any statement made to it in pursuance of those purposes has qualified privilege.
(2)In subsection (1), “statement” has the same meaning as in the Defamation Act 1996 (c. 31).