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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am pleased to tell the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, that I can offer him rather more sympathy on this amendment than perhaps he was expecting. It cannot, in our opinion, be anything other than entirely proper for an assessment of the impact of any technical obligations on individuals, copyright owners and internet service providers to have been carried out before such obligations are imposed. However, while we think that this amendment is absolutely right in its intent, we do not think that the legislation requires this specific addition to have that effect. As your Lordships will be aware, an amendment has been tabled in the name of my noble friend Lord Mandelson—we shall consider it in a moment—so that any technical obligations will be imposed by an order under the affirmative procedure. Any such order will as a matter of practice be accompanied by a full impact assessment, which will look at the impact on all possible affected parties, including those mentioned in the amendment—consumers, copyright owners and internet service providers. I hope therefore that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw the amendment.