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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I beg to move Amendment 85A and speak to the three other government amendments in this group. The purpose of the amendments is to put into effect one of the recommendations of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee in its second report published on 17 December 2009. The report noted that the procedure for the approval of the code is different according to whether Ofcom approves a code made by somebody else or makes one itself. Since the effect on copyright owners, internet service providers and subscribers is not materially different whether the code is merely approved by Ofcom or is actually made by Ofcom, the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee considered that the negative procedure should apply when a code is approved by Ofcom, just as it does when a code is made by Ofcom. We have looked at this issue further and we regard this as unassailable logic. At the moment Ofcom has to give notice of an approval or withdrawal of approval in relation to the code and the notice has to be published in a manner that Ofcom considers appropriate to bring it to the attention of those likely to be affected. Any notice along with the approved code or any approved modifications have to be laid before Parliament. The effect of the amendments would be to provide that when the code is in a form that is satisfactory to both Ofcom and the Secretary of State, Ofcom must make an order containing the code in that form. Any approved modifications would have to be contained in an order, and if Ofcom wished to withdraw its approval for the approved code it would have to revoke the order. The order would be subject to the negative procedure and Section 403 of the Communications Act 2003 would apply to the power of Ofcom to make an order, which would mean that Ofcom would have to consult for at least a month before making the order, as it has to if it makes the code itself under Clause 7. The amendments ensure that the code for the initial obligations, which is crucial to the practical day-to-day management of the process, will be subject to equivalent levels of consultation and parliamentary oversight whether—as I hope will be the case—they are produced by industry and others and approved by Ofcom, or whether Ofcom itself feels it necessary to make a code. I hope there is general agreement that this is a sensible amendment which meets the recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. I beg to move.