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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

I should like to speak to Amendment 70. We support the principle of the other amendments in this grouping. It is very important that the notification under Clause 4 includes those matters which will guarantee the rights of the subscriber in these circumstances. We believe that advice about how to respond to the notification, if a subscriber believes it to be based on an error of fact, wrong in law or unreasonable, should certainly be included in the notification. Noble Lords have phrased this in different ways in their amendments but that seems to us to encapsulate the essence of the matter. We believe that, for the sake of natural justice, and for the sake of the subscriber—the subscriber can be an individual or an educational or cultural institution—served with a copyright infringement notice by the relevant ISP, it should give advice about how to contest the notification. That seems to be axiomatic. Even if the Government cannot accept these amendments, I very much hope that they will formulate something which responds to this group.