Tonga

DEFAMATION AMENDMENT ACT 2000

No. 27 of 2000

I assent,

TAUFA'AHAU TUPOU IV,
7th November, 2000.

AN ACT
TO AMEND THE DEFAMATION ACT

[7th November, 2000]

BE IT ENACTED by the King and Legislative Assembly of Tonga in the Legislature of the Kingdom as follows:-

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Defamation (Amendment) Act 2000.

(2) The Defamation Act (Cap. 33), as amended, is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.

2. Section 8 of the Principal Act is deleted and replaced with the following-

"8. (1) All criminal proceedings for violation of section 3 of this Act shall be by summons and preliminary inquiry before a magistrate at the instance of the Attorney General. If the accused person is committed for trial to the Supreme Court the Attorney General or his deputy shall prosecute in that Court.

(2) All criminal proceedings for violation of sections 5 and 6 of this Act shall be by summons and determined in the magistrate's court".

Passed in the Legislative Assembly this 21 day of September, 2000.

------------------------------------