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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

The clause provides for retrospective legislation. The noble Lord, Lord Razzall, is right to have concerns about it, which we on these Benches share. At the very best of times, retrospective legislation is something to be wary about. I do not think that this is one of those occasions when it is justifiable. I have several questions about what this new paragraph will require an internet service provider to do. Are ISPs to send notifications to people who have been identified as having been infringers before the Bill becomes law? That would be both difficult and unreasonable. Another area that needs clarification is infringements before the code has been properly finalised. Being imposed retrospectively imposes a much higher level of costs. I am not certain that Her Majesty’s Government have properly considered that. It is feasible to start matching subscriber accounts to IP addresses once that requirement is known—from the date the Bill is enacted or from the moment when the threshold is reached. But it would not be reasonable to expect the costs of setting up the necessary computer programs and systems to be gone into until such time as it is definitely required. To have to trawl back through possibly inadequate records to find matches that relate to an infringement some time in the past may not be possible and, even if it were possible, would almost certainly involve completely disproportionate costs. These costs would apply to everybody, not just the types of providers to which the noble Lord referred earlier. As I said, I have my doubts that the problems, and potential problems, have been thoroughly thought through. The outline code that we have been sent suggests that the Government are now thinking about a period of grace. I very much look forward to hearing from the Minister whether that period of grace will allow some of the difficulties I have just mentioned to be addressed by the ISPs so that it gives them the opportunity to install the necessary systems and so on to enable them to carry out the function if asked to do so. It does not seem right not only that quite so many details have been left to the code but that the Government have given so little thought to their implementation before coming to the House with the Bill.