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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

My Lords, first, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, for his support for the amendments and for the outbreak of sweetness and light from the Liberal Democrat Benches. In respect of the point made by the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, regarding the people at whom the technical measures will be targeted, I made it clear in my opening remarks that it will be only those who repeatedly infringe copyright online or allow others to use their subscription to do so. We are not putting an exact number into the Bill at this stage—we do not think that it is right to do that—but the provision is directed at repeat offenders. The question of consumers paying for appeals is something that we discussed in debate on earlier amendments in Committee. We do not want to make appeals expensive so that people are deterred from using them. Indeed, we have always made a point of saying that appeals must be accessible. There may also be merit in having a refundable fee which is set at a low enough level not to scare off subscribers but is high enough to deter purely mischievous appeals. Whether that is the road we go down will depend on the consultation that will need to be carried out on a statutory instrument on costs, a draft of which noble Lords have seen. But we think that it is right that the Bill should at least allow for that possibility while ensuring that subscribers do not pay for any of the other provisions. That is rightly placed as a responsibility for the industry participants. I beg to move. Amendment 148A agreed. Amendment 149 not moved. Amendment 150 Moved by