TNAG-2286-FCO40-3289-Extension-of-Official-Secrets-Act-1989-to-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 149

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9.

With these considerations in mind, it is very

unlikely that the Attorney General would wish to bring a

prosecution under section 2 of the Official Secrets Act

1911. Indeed, the Attorney General has recently declined

prosecuting a number of cases under section 2 of the 1911

Act, having felt inhibited from consenting to prosecute for

the reasons given above. As a matter of legal policy, it

is higly undesirable to countenance the continuation in

force of a law which the Attorney General is so unlikely to

use.

10.

The present state of affairs is wholly

unacceptable, for it is widely accepted that, in order to

conduct the business of government effectively, some

categories of official information should be held or

communicated in confidence, and that the holders and

disseminators of such information should, ultimately, be

liable to criminal sanctions if they breach this

confidence. Knowledge that the section was defunct for

practical purposes might give, to those who might be

inclined to flout the confidentiality entrusted to them,

encouragement to offend.

11.

The provisions of the Official Secrets Act 1989,

suitably adapted and modified, would be an acceptable

replacement for section 2 of the 1911 Act because they are

drafted in modern language and in a clear style; the

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