Official Secrets Act 1920
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| Long title | An Act to amend the Official Secrets Act, 1911. |
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| Citation | 10 & 11 Geo 5 c 75 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 23 December 1920 |
| Commencement | 23 December 1920 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Official Secrets Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo 5 c 75) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Sections 1(1) and (2) provide:
(1) If any person for the purpose of gaining admission, or of assisting any other person to gain admission, to a prohibited place, within the meaning of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (hereinafter referred to as "the principal Act"), or for any other purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State within the meaning of the said Act -
he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
(2) If any person -
he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.
The words in square brackets in section 1(1)(c) were repealed for England and Wales and Northern Ireland by section 30 of, and Part 1 of the Schedule to, the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981.
"Misdemeanour"
See the Criminal Law Act 1967, the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 and section 8(2) of this Act.
Sentence
A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to a fine not exceeding the prescribed sum, or to both.
This section creates a rule of evidence in prosecutions under section 1 of the 1911 Act.
Section 2(1) provides:
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.
See R v Kent [1941] 1 KB 454, 28 Cr App R 23, 57 TLR 307, CCA
"The principal Act"
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