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Archives Act 1983
57Protection against certain actions
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## 57 Protection against certain actions
(1) Where, in the ordinary course of the administration of this Act, access is given to a record as being a record required by this Part to be made available for public access:
(a) no action for defamation, breach of confidence or infringement of copyright lies, by reason of the authorizing or giving of the access, against the Commonwealth or any person concerned in the authorizing or giving of the access;
(b) no action for defamation or breach of confidence in respect of any publication involved in, or resulting from, the giving of the access lies against the author of the record or any other person by reason of that author or other person having supplied the record to a Commonwealth institution; and
(c) a person concerned in the authorizing or giving of the access does not commit a criminal offence by reason only of the authorizing or giving of the access.
the access given to the record shall be taken, for the purposes of subsection (1), to be given to the record as being a record required by this Part to be made available for public access.
(2) The giving of access to a record (including an exempt record) under this Act shall not be taken, for the purposes of the law relating to defamation or breach of confidence, to constitute an authorization or approval of the publication of the record or of its contents by the person to whom the access was given.