Cap. 579 Art. 15Right of reply.

(1) Any person whose actions or intentions have been misrepresented or who has been the victim of defamation or who has had his private life intruded into through a publication is entitled to demand to have published forthwith, free of charge, in the same medium, a statement by way of contradiction or explanation:

Provided that this article does not apply if the misrepresentation occurs in a broadcast of a political nature which is part of a scheme approved by the Broadcasting Authority where the misrepresentation may be contradicted or explained by another broadcast which is part of the same scheme.Where the misrepresentation occurs in a broadcast which is the last broadcast in any aformentioned scheme, the Broadcasting Authority shall decide on the manner in which the right of reply shall be exercised:

Provided also that no person shall be required to publish a statement by way of contradiction or explanation which is defamatory or which is not written in the language of the publisher or any of the languages used by the broadcasting medium or website where it is requested that it should be published:

Provided further that the right of reply shall be restricted to the correction or contradiction and, or explanation of facts and shall not extend to the submission of a different opinion.

(2) (a) In the case of a newspaper, a reply in accordance with this article shall be published as a separate article and without being interpolated with any comments or other material that does not form part of the reply, with appropriate prominence as the publication in respect of which the right of reply is exercised and it shall not be lawful to shorten or edit the reply in such a manner as to prejudice the effective exercise of the right of reply under this article. The said statement shall be published not later than the second issue of the newspaper following the receipt of the request:

Provided that when the right of reply is availed of in respect of a publication in a newspaper published at intervals of at least one week, the said statement shall be published in the issue immediately following the receipt of the request if such request is received at least four days before the publication of the said issue and not later than the second issue following the receipt of the request in all other cases.

(b) In the case of a broadcast, a statement in terms of sub-article (1) shall be broadcast not later than the second day following that on which the request is received; it shall be broadcast in a way and at a time so that it reaches as much as possible the same audience and with the same prominence, and the time allowed shall be a time which is twice the time of the broadcast or part of the broadcast complained of but which is not less than ninety seconds and not more than one hundred and eighty seconds.

(c) Without prejudice to the provisions of article 11, where the claimant still files defamation proceedings despite the fact that his reply has been published in terms of this Act, then the Court shall, in its judgement, consider this fact and reduce any award as appropriate.

(d) In the case of media consisting of a website, a statement in terms of sub-article (1) shall be uploaded on the website not later than the second day following which the request is received. The reply must be given the same prominence as that which was given to the statement being replied to.

(e) Where the editor or operator of a website receives more than one reply about the same subject the editor or operator may summarise the replies.

(f) An editor or person responsible for the broadcasting medium or an operator of a website responsible for the uploading of a reply on a website who fails to comply with the provisions of this article may, on the application of the complainant to the Court of Magistrates in its civil jurisdiction, be ordered to publish such reply. The Court may, after hearing the parties, also order the editor, person responsible for the broadcasting medium or an operator of a website, as the case may be, to pay a penalty to the complainant not exceeding two thousand euro (€2,000).

(g) The provisions of this article shall not apply to privileged publications as defined in this Act.

(h) The right of reply under this article shall lapse if the person demanding such right shall not have claimed it within one month from publication.