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Digital Economy Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, for tabling the amendment. What we are talking about here is the degree to which businesses, consumers or the UK’s internet economy must be affected before the Secretary of State can be satisfied that enforcement action against a registry would be justified. The Secretary of State is bound to act reasonably whenever he makes a decision. Deciding whether the failure of the domain registry is serious enough to warrant further action would not be an exception; and as we have said, neither is it a decision that would be taken lightly. It would be the last resort. It must remain within the Secretary of State’s reasonable judgment to decide, on the facts available, how serious the adverse effect is. In the light of that explanation, I invite the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.