62. (1) Subject to the outcome of any appeal under Part 7 against a decision of the Ombudsman under F29[section 60 or 61] in respect of a complaint, the decision is binding on any party to the complaint.

F29[(2) Subject to subsection (2A), the Ombudsman—

(a) shall publish—

(i) decisions made by him or her after the establishment day in relation to complaints concerning financial service providers, and

(ii) case studies in relation to complaints concerning pension providers,

and

(b) may, if he or she considers it appropriate to do so in any particular case, publish, in such form as he or she thinks fit, a report in relation to any investigation under this Part and the result of that investigation,

in such a manner that—

(I) ensures that—

(A) a complainant shall not be identified by name, address or otherwise, and

(B) a financial service provider or a pension provider, as the case may be, shall not be identified by name or address,

and

(II) ensures compliance with the Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.]

F30[(2A) Where the Ombudsman has, as part of an investigation into a complaint, conducted an oral hearing in public under section 56(4A), the Ombudsman may identify the complainant and either the financial service provider or the pension provider concerned when publishing decisions, case studies or reports, as the case may be, under subsection (2).]

(3) F31[…]

(4) For the purposes of the law of defamation, the publication by the Ombudsman of F29[any decision, case study or report, as the case may be, under subsection (2)] shall be absolutely privileged, and immune from legal proceedings.

F32[(5) In this section, "Data Protection Regulation" means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016⁵³ on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).]