Official Secrets Act 1911

Official Secrets Act 1911[1]
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to re-enact the Official Secrets Act 1889 with Amendments.
Citation1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 28
Dates
Royal assent22 August 1911
Commencement22 August 1911[2]
Repealed20 December 2023
Other legislation
Repeals/revokesOfficial Secrets Act 1889
Amended by
Repealed byNational Security Act 2023
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted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It was amended several times; most importantly the "catch-all" provisions contained in section 2 of the Act were repealed and replaced by the Official Secrets Act 1989.[3] The Act applied in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and in overseas crown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The Act was repealed and replaced in 2023 by the National Security Act 2023.[4][5]

In the Republic of Ireland, the Act was repealed by section 3 of the Official Secrets Act 1963.[6]

  1. ^ This short title is given by section 13(1) of the Act.
  2. ^ This Act came into force on receiving royal assent because no other date was specified: Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference CBP07422 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Schedule 18 and sections 1 to 4.
  5. ^ "The National Security Act 2023 (Commencement No. 1 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2023", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 27 November 2023, SI 2023/1272, retrieved 20 December 2023
  6. ^ "Official Secrets Act, 1963: section 3, Repeals". electronic Irish Statute Book. Government of Ireland. Retrieved 4 May 2017.