The Digital Economy Bill was published in July 2016 and
considered by the Commons in Autumn 2016, completing Commons
stages on 28 November 2016. It was introduced into the House of
Lords on 29 November, and third reading took place on 5 April
2017.
The Bill contains a large number of amendments. The majority
number of these amendments relate to the data sharing proposals
in the Bill and have been put forward by the Government. It
does however introduce a number of new measures around
television, secondary ticketing, mobile phone use in drug
dealing, e-book lending, Information Commissioner charges and
managing the pension liabilities of BT/Openreach.
An outline of the Bill and its purpose is given in the
Library’s paper prepared for second reading: Commons Library analysis
of the Digital Economy Bill (September 2016).
The key amendments made to the Bill in the Lords are:
- Opposition amendments putting more detail in primary
legislation on contents of the future order for the Universal
Service Obligation (USO);
- Opposition amendments around mobile phone bill limits and
switching;
- Changes to the definition of pornographic material to be
covered by the age verification controls and other amendments
on the way age verification would work (Government amendments);
- Opposition amendments were added on a code of practice for
social media;
- Government amendments were made to the data sharing
elements of the Bill (and these are the majority of amendments
overall);
- Amendments with regard to a BBC Licence Fee Commission, the
provision of children’s TV, e-book lending, accessibility of
on-demand television, electronic programming guides, conditions
around televising events of national interest;
- Government amendments to provide a power to introduce an
offence to use bots to purchase tickets for recreational,
sporting or cultural events in excess of the maximum allowed;
- Government amendments that would allow the blocking of
mobile phones used for drug dealing;
- Government amendments to deal with pension liabilities
relating to BT/Openreach structural changes, and around
Information Commissioner charges.
Originally, the Bill extended to the whole of the UK with two
exceptions: sharing data in relation to civil registration does
not apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while the
provisions for sharing energy supplier data do not apply in
Northern Ireland. New data sharing provisions proposed in the
amendments relating to water poverty only apply to England and
Wales.
A list of Lords amendments to be
considered is available along with explanatory notes.
Amendments 249 to 252 create a charging power in relation to
the Information Commissioner so will be subject to a ways and
means resolution.
