Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to re-enact the Official Secrets Act 1889 with Amendments. |
---|---|
Citation | 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 28 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 22 August 1911 |
Commencement | 22 August 1911[2] |
Repealed | 20 December 2023 |
Other legislation | |
Repeals/revokes | Official Secrets Act 1889 |
Amended by | |
Repealed by | National Security Act 2023 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Revised text of statute as amended |
The Official Secrets Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 28) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaced the Official Secrets Act 1889.[3]
The Act was introduced in response to public alarm at reports of wide-scale espionage, some of them fomented by popular novels and plays that dramatized the threat, supposedly from Germany, at a time of a rapid naval expansion. Its provisions were extensive, with heavy penalties for any reporting or sketching of military, naval or air defence installations, or the harbouring of people suspected of gathering such intelligence.
It was amended several times; most importantly the "catch-all" provisions contained in section 2 of the Act were repealed and replaced by the Official Secrets Act 1989.[3] The Act applied in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and in overseas crown territories and colonies. It also applied to British subjects anywhere else in the world.
The Act was repealed and replaced in 2023 by the National Security Act 2023.[4][5]
In the Republic of Ireland, the Act was repealed by section 3 of the Official Secrets Act 1963.[6]
CBP07422
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).