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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am not sure if I should be raising this on this amendment or the next one—Amendment 34. Whatever we do in this Bill must be compliant with EU directives. The new framework directive has just come out as a result of the action by the European Parliament, and amendment 138 became Article 1(3a) of the new framework directive. To take little bits out of it, ""Any of these measures regarding end-users’ access to, or use of, services and applications through electronic communications networks liable to restrict those fundamental rights or freedoms may only be imposed if they are appropriate"." I know that that is the next stage of the technical measures, but the principle that everything must be as guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is very important. We may be in danger of passing something into law here that could be struck down at the European Court of Justice in the near future if we did not get it right. The directive goes on to state that measures must comply, ""with general principles of Community law, including effective judicial protection and due process"."