15.— (1) Information which comes to the knowledge of any of the following persons in the performance of their functions as—

(a) the Director of Europol,

(b) a member of the Management Board of Europol,

(c) a Deputy Director of Europol,

(d) an employee of Europol,

(e) a person who, in respect of another Member State, performs the functions for that Member State, that a liaison officer performs in relation to the State, or

(f) another person under a particular obligation of discretion or confidentiality under this Act or the Council Decision,

shall be deemed to be official information within the meaning of the Official Secrets Act 1963 and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly to such information.

(2) As respects information to which subsection (1) relates, “duly authorised” in section 4(4) of the Official Secrets Act 1963 shall be construed as including being authorised by the Director of Europol or, as the case may be, the Management Board of Europol.