The Digital Economy Bill 2016-17 has today received
Royal Assent.
The Bill introduces measures to modernise the UK for enterprise.
The measures have been designed to:
- empower consumers and ensure everyone has access to broadband
wherever they live
- build a better infrastructure fit for the digital future
- enable better public services using digital technologies
- provide important protections for citizens from spam email
and nuisance calls and protect children from online pornography
Minister of State for Digital and Culture, said:
I’m delighted the Digital Economy Act has become law. This
legislation will help build a more connected and stronger
economy. The Act will enable major improvements in broadband
rollout, better support for consumers, better protection for
children on the Internet, and further transformation of
government services.
The Act includes includes provisions which will:
- give every household a legal right to request a fast
broadband connection
- give consumers and businesses better information about
communication services, easier switching and automatic
compensation if things go wrong
- cut the costs for new infrastructure and simplify planning
rules
- enable stronger enforcement of direct marketing laws
- create civil penalties for online pornographers who do not
verify the age of their customers, and ISP level blocking of
non-compliant sites, and;
- help protect consumers from “bill shock” by requiring mobile
network operators to offer a bill capping facility
During the passage of the Bill through Parliament, a series of
useful provisions have been added, including;
- powers to ensure that the Crown guarantee of BT pensions has
the necessary flexibility to allow BT and Openreach to be
separated
- powers to tackle the problem of “bots” in the online
secondary ticketing market,
- an extension of the public lending right to cover e-books,
and;
- provision to ensure that on-demand television is accessible
to people with disabilities.
