General provisionsE+W+S

15Meaning of “publish” and “statement”E+W+S

[F1In this Act—

• “publish” and “publication”, in relation to a statement, have the meaning they have for the purposes of the law of defamation generally;

• “statement” means words, pictures, visual images, gestures or any other method of signifying meaning.]

16Consequential amendments and savings etcE+W+S

(1)Section 8 of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (defamation actions) is amended in accordance with subsections (2) and (3).

(2)In subsection (3) for “of justification or fair comment or” substitute “ under section 2 or 3 of the Defamation Act 2013 which is available to him or any defence ”.

(3)In subsection (5) for “the defence of justification” substitute “ a defence under section 2 of the Defamation Act 2013 ”.

(4)Nothing in section 1 or 14 affects any cause of action accrued before the commencement of the section in question.

(5)[F2Nothing in sections 2 to 7 or 10 has effect in relation to an action for defamation if the cause of action accrued before the commencement of the section in question.]

(6)In determining whether section 8 applies, no account is to be taken of any publication made before the commencement of the section.

(7)Nothing in section 9 or 11 has effect in relation to an action for defamation begun before the commencement of the section in question.

(8)In determining for the purposes of subsection (7)(a) of section 3 whether a person would have a defence under section 4 to any action for defamation, the operation of subsection (5) of this section is to be ignored.

17Short title, extent and commencementE+W+S

(1)This Act may be cited as the Defamation Act 2013.

(2)F3...This Act extends to England and Wales only.

F4(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(4)Subject to [F5subsection] (6), the provisions of this Act come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument appoint.

F6(5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(6)Section 15, subsections (4) to (8) of section 16 and this section come into force on the day on which this Act is passed.