OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1920 - SECT 2 Communications with foreign agents to be evidence of commission of certain offences.

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OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1920 - SECT 2

Communications with foreign agents to be evidence of commission of certain offences.

2.(1) In any proceedings against a person for an offence under section one of
the principal Act, the fact that he has been in communication with, or
attempted to communicate with, a foreign agent, whether within or without the
United Kingdom, shall be evidence that he has, for a purpose prejudicial to
the safety or interests of the State, obtained or attempted to obtain
information which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be
directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.

(2) For the purpose of this section, but without prejudice to the generality
of the foregoing provision

(a)A person shall, unless he proves the contrary, be deemed to have been in
communication with a foreign agent if

(i)He has, either within or without the United Kingdom, visited the address of
a foreign agent or consorted or associated with a foreign agent; or

(ii)Either, within or without the United Kingdom, the name or address of, or
any other information regarding a foreign agent has been found in his
possession, or has been supplied by him to any other person, or has been
obtained by him from any other person:

(b)The expression "foreign agent" includes any person who is or has been or is
reasonably suspected of being or having been employed by a foreign power
either directly or indirectly for the purpose of committing an act, either
within or without the United Kingdom, prejudicial to the safety or interests
of the State, or who has or is reasonably suspected of having, either within
or without the United Kingdom, committed, or attempted to commit, such an act
in the interests of a foreign power:

(c)Any address, whether within or without the United Kingdom, reasonably
suspected of being an address used for the receipt of communications intended
for a foreign agent, or any address at which a foreign agent resides, or to
which he resorts for the purpose of giving or receiving communications, or at
which he carries on any business, shall be deemed to be the address of a
foreign agent, and communications addressed to such an address to be
communications with a foreign agent.

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Northern Irish Legislation

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT 1920 - SECT 2