Part 7Electoral material

Part 7—Electoral material 27—Publication of electoral material (1) A person must not publish electoral material or cause electoral material to be published unless the material contains— (a) the name and address of the person who authorises publication of the material; and (b) in the case of printed electoral material—the name and prescribed information of the printer or other person responsible for undertaking its production. (1a) If— (a) electoral material is published on the Internet; and (b) the name and address of the person who authorises publication of the material is immediately accessible on the Internet by viewers of the material in accordance with any requirements prescribed by regulation, that name and address need not be contained in the electoral material. (2) If electoral material is published in a newspaper that has been published at intervals of one month or less over a period of at least six months immediately preceding the publication of the electoral material, the name and prescribed information of the printer need not be contained in the electoral material. (3) If electoral material is published in a newspaper as a letter to the editor, it is an offence to publish the material without the name and address (not being a post box) of the writer of the letter. (4) If electoral material is published on the Internet by a person other than the person who established or controls the Internet site or other platform (or the relevant part of it), the person who established or controls the Internet site or other platform (or the relevant part of it) is not taken to have published the material or caused the electoral material to be published unless that person authorised, whether directly or indirectly, the publishing of the material on the Internet site or other platform. prescribed information means— (a) if the printer or other person responsible for undertaking production of the printed electoral material has a physical address—that address; or (b) if the printer or other person responsible for undertaking production of the printed electoral material does not have a physical address—the email address or website address of the printer or other person. 28—Publication of misleading material (1) If— (a) electoral material contains a statement purporting to be a statement of fact; and (b) the statement is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent, a person who authorised, caused or permitted the publication of the material (the publisher) is guilty of an offence. (1a) A person (the relevant person) is not taken to have authorised, caused or permitted the publication of electoral material if it is published by a person other than the relevant person on an Internet site or other platform established or controlled (or partly established or controlled) by the relevant person unless the relevant person authorised, whether directly or indirectly, the publishing of the material on the Internet site or other platform. (2) It is a defence to a charge of an offence against subsection (1) for the defendant to prove— (a) that he or she took no part in determining the contents of the material; and (b) that he or she could not reasonably be expected to have known that the statement to which the charge relates was inaccurate and misleading. (2a) If the Electoral Commissioner is satisfied that published electoral material contains a statement purporting to be a statement of fact that is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent, the Electoral Commissioner may request the publisher to do 1 or more of the following: (a) withdraw the material from further publication; (b) publish a retraction in specified terms and a specified manner and form, (and in proceedings for an offence against subsection (1) arising from the material, the publisher's response to a request under this subsection may be taken into account in assessing any penalty to which the publisher may be liable). (2b) If the Supreme Court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt on application by the Electoral Commissioner that published electoral material contains a statement purporting to be a statement of fact that is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent, the Court may order the publisher to do 1 or more of the following: (a) withdraw the material from further publication; (b) publish a retraction in specified terms and a specified manner and form. (3) This section applies to material published by any means (including radio or television). (4) No action under this section lies against the returning officer with respect to the publication of material provided to the returning officer by a candidate for election under section 19.