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Civil Liberties and Human Rights & Defamation Law

Defamation Act amendments

Changes in the defamation act, which come into force from 1st January 2014, will make it easier for people to express their opinion without fear of prosecution, over the years organisations have lobbied parliament highlighting the inadequacies of the old act, whilst the old act did not prevent criticism, it did allow for easy prosecution.

The defamation act had a dampening effect on freedom of speech which could have encouraged legitimate debate on a product, company or person.
The amended act introduces a new serious harm threshold which has been brought in to give a degree of clarity as to when action should be taken and to stop any trivial cases being brought.

The justice minister has highlighted journalists, scientists and academics as previously facing the threat of liable action if they legitimately criticised an organisation, individual or product, under the new laws criticism can be expressed in the knowledge that the new laws provide greater protection, the new laws are designed to redress the balance between freedom of speech and the right to protect a reputation
.
In future a scientist or academic will be able to publish review material, knowing they have stronger protection from prosecution.

The new act also introduces a process to protect web sites from prosecution if defamatory remarks are posted on their web site, the new laws will now direct the dispute with the person who has posted the article rather than the web site owners.

Additional amendments have been brought in to prevent multiple claims against a single piece of material, and tighter measures to reduce so called 'libel tourism' claims, designed to exclude claims from people with no connection to England and Wales.

Scotland still has their own liable laws, but they are looking at bringing their laws in line with Westminster and the old act still applies to Northern Ireland, but it is understood that they will adopt the amended legislation soon.

We would recommend that if you need to understand your rights under the Defamation Act 2013 you contact a firm of solicitors using the search facility on the site

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