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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, just in case anyone is confused, I have agreed to move the amendments in the name of my noble friend Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer today; sadly, she cannot be with us. We on these Benches very much think that the amendments should be considered. In moving Amendment 59, I shall also speak to Amendment 77. The amendments are the first of a series with which we will deal today that relate to costs. As the Minister knows, there is considerable discussion about this aspect. Indeed, I see that the Government, in anticipation of today’s debate, have published a draft online infringement of copyright order, dealing with initial obligations and sharing of costs. That is extremely timely. The big issue is the allocation of costs between internet service providers and the copyright holders. I have not had a great deal of time to look over the draft order. Although the Government have further work to do with consultants on the methodology for splitting costs and so on—I hope that the Minister will give us an idea of the process involved—they seem to be allocating costs 75 per cent one way and 25 per cent the other. Many in the ISP community might think that that is rather an unfair allocation. I will be interested to hear what the Minister has to say about that. If I were to put words into the mouths of the ISPs, I think that they would say that the copyright owners will largely be the ones to benefit from these processes and so the ISPs should bear a lower cost—or at least only half the cost—compared with the copyright owners. I am sure that we shall be batting these concepts back and forth. We have our own Front Bench amendments to come, when my noble friend Lord Razzall or I will make the case at rather greater length. In the mean time, I beg to move.