US libel tourism bill signed into law

President Obama has signed an anti-libel tourism bill into law, in a move described by British libel reform campaigners as "embarassing".

The Speech Act (Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage), which Journalism.co.uk reported was passed by Congress last month, aims to protect US writers and journalists from 'libel tourists' who use courts in other jurisdictions with weaker freedom of expression laws, such as the UK, to bring defamation cases.

According to the Associated Press, the law will give US federal courts the power to refuse to recognise or enforce a foreign judgment for defamation against a US citizen when "inconsistent with the free speech guaranteed in the constitution". Defendants can use the law abroad by making a court order that the judgement against them would not be enforceable.

Jonathan Heawood, the Director of English PEN said the signing of the bill into law was embarassing for those in the UK who claim libel tourism is not a significant issue.
 
“It’s hugely embarrassing that other countries are passing laws to protect their citizens from libel actions in our high court," he said in a statement. "English libel lawyers claim that libel tourism is not a problem, if this is the case why has President Obama just signed into law a measure to protect his citizens from our courts?”

English PEN is one of three organisations which make up England's Libel Reform Campaign, calling for English libel law to be updated.

Following the second reading of a Private Members Defamation Bill by Lord Lester, the government announced it will table a draft libel bill for January 2011 which will reportedly take into account the issue of libel tourism despite it being left out of Lord Lester's draft.

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