House of Commons Amendments

Session 2012 - 13
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

11

House of Commons

Notices of Amendments

given up to and including

Friday 15 June 2012

New Amendments handed in are marked thus

Amendments which will comply with the required notice period at their next appearance

Public Bill Committee

Defamation Bill

Resolution of the Programming Sub-Committee

The Programming Sub-Committee appointed by the Speaker in respect of the Bill

agreed the following Resolution at its meeting on Thursday 14 June (Standing Order No.

83C):—

That—

(1)
the Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 10.30 am on Tuesday

19 June) meet—

(a)
at 4.00 pm on Tuesday 19 June;

(b)
at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm on Thursday 21 June;

(c)
at 10.30 am and 4.00 pm on Tuesday 26 June;

(2)
the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a

conclusion at 7.00 pm on Tuesday 26 June.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly has given notice of his intention to move a motion in the terms

of the Resolution of the Programming Sub-Committee [Standing Order No. 83C].

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

That, subject to the discretion of the Chair, any written evidence received by the

Committe shall be reported to the House for publication.

Notices of Amendments: 15 June 2012
12

Defamation Bill, continued

Robert Flello

6


Clause  1,  page  1,  line  3,  after ‘unless’, insert ‘the extent of’.

Helen Goodman

4


Clause  1,  page  1,  line  4,  at end add ‘or to the reputation of the claimant’s close

relative if that close relative died within the year prior to the defamatory statement being

published’.

Helen Goodman

5


Clause  1,  page  1,  line  4,  at end add—

‘(2)
For the purposes of this section, “close relative” includes the claimant’s—

(a)
spouse or partner;

(b)
son or daughter;

(c)
brother or sister; and

(d)
father or mother.’.

Robert Flello

12


Clause  2,  page  1,  line  14,  at end insert—

‘(3A)
The defence under this section does not fail on the basis that one or more of the

imputations is not shown to be substantially true, if that imputation would not

materially injure the claimant’s reputation in the light of what the defendant has

otherwise shown to be substantially true.’.

Robert Flello

13


Clause  3,  page  2,  line  8,  at end insert ‘or’.

Robert Flello

7


Clause  3,  page  2,  line  11,  leave out ‘did not hold the opinion’ and insert ‘acted out

of malice’.

Robert Flello

14


Clause  3,  page  2,  line  27,  at end insert—

‘(e)
a defence under common law qualified privilege.’.

Notices of Amendments: 15 June 2012
13

Defamation Bill, continued

Robert Flello

27


Clause  4,  page  2,  line  33,  after ‘interest’, insert ‘unless the claimant can show that

the defendant acted irresponsibly in publishing the statement complained of’.

Robert Flello

26


Clause  4,  page  2,  line  33,  leave out from ‘interest’ to end of line 35.

Robert Flello

28


Clause  4,  page  2,  line  34,  after ‘defendant’, insert ‘, having regard to the nature of

the publisher, the publication and its context,’.

Robert Flello

29


Clause  4,  page  2,  leave out line 39.

Robert Flello

30


Clause  4,  page  3,  line  7,  at end insert—

‘(j)
the reasonable judgement of the author or editor, having regard to what

was known at the time of the decision to publish the statement.’.

Robert Flello

8


Clause  4,  page  3,  line  11,  leave out ‘this section’ and insert ‘subsection (3)’.

Robert Flello

17


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  23,  at end insert—

‘(2A)
The defence provided in this section is not affected by the operator having a

policy of amending content (“moderation”) after it has been published provided

that any changes made as a result of the actions of the moderator—

(a)
do not significantly increase the defamatory nature of the words

complained of;

(b)
do not remove a relevant defence to an action for defamation in relation

to the words complained of; and

(c)
do not significantly increase the extent of the publication of the words

complained of.’.

Robert Flello

18


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  25,  leave out from ‘possible’ to end of line 26 and insert—

‘(i)
for the claimant to identify the person who posted the statement,

and

(ii)
for the claimant to contact the person who posted the statement.’.

Notices of Amendments: 15 June 2012
14

Defamation Bill, continued

Robert Flello

19


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  27,  leave out ‘the claimant gave the operator’ and insert ‘the

operator was served with’.

Robert Flello

9


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  30,  leave out ‘any provision contained in regulations’ and

insert ‘subsection (3A)’.

Robert Flello

10


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  30,  at end insert—

‘(3A)
Where a complaint is received by an operator under subsection (3), the operator

must publish a notice of complaint alongside the relevant statement and, if the

operator fails to do so within seven days of notice of the complaint, the operator

will only be entitled to rely on the standard defences available to a primary

publisher, if sued for defamation.’.

Robert Flello

20


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  30,  at end insert—

‘(3A)
The condition in sub-paragraph (3)(a)(ii) will be met if the claimant notified the

web operator and the web operator did not elicit a reply (for whatever reason)

from the author within a timescale provided for in regulations made under this

section.’.

Robert Flello

21


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  35,  leave out ‘was’ and insert ‘is’.

Robert Flello

22


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  36,  at end insert—

‘(e)
is authorised by a court, which is satisfied on the basis of the information

that it has before it, that—

(i)
the statement concerned is capable of being defamatory

including having regard to section 1 (serious harm) and is

capable of representing a real and substantial tort in the

jurisdiction based on the extent of publication;

(ii)
would not be likely to benefit from a defence to an action for

defamation;

(iii)
that the terms of subsection (3)(a) have been met.

(f)
may specify a time limit by which the statement complained of should be

removed in order to benefit from the defence in this section.’.

Robert Flello

23


Clause  5,  page  3,  line  37,  at end insert—

‘(aa)
make provision as to the matters to be considered by the court when

considering an application to authorise the issue of a notice of complaint,

including the requirements needed to satisfy subsection (3A).’.

Notices of Amendments: 15 June 2012
15

Defamation Bill, continued

Robert Flello

24


Clause  5,  page  4,  line  4,  leave out from ‘section’ to end of line 5 and insert ‘shall

not come into force without the affirmative resolution of both Houses of Parliament.’.

Robert Flello

25


Clause  5,  page  4,  line  6,  at end insert—

‘(9)
In paragraph 1(c) of the Defamation Act 1996, leave out “a defamatory” and

insert “an unlawful”.’.

Robert Flello

15


Clause  7,  page  5,  line  22,  after ‘proceedings’, insert ‘, of the contents of a press

release circulated or published’.

Robert Flello

11


Clause  8,  page  7,  line  17,  at end insert—

‘(c)
the comparative quality and credibility of the source of the subsequent

publication, compared with the first publication.’.

Robert Flello

16


Clause  10,  page  8,  line  22,  leave out from ‘court’ to end of line 24 and insert—

‘(a)
is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable for an action to be brought

against the author, editor or publisher; and

(b)
has made a determination that the statement complained of is

defamatory.’.

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

1


Clause  16,  page  10,  line  3,  leave out subsections (2) and (3).

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

2


Clause  16,  page  10,  line  7,  at beginning insert ‘Subject to subsection (5),’.

Notices of Amendments: 15 June 2012
16

Defamation Bill, continued

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

3


Clause  16,  page  10,  line  7,  at end insert—

‘(5)
The following provisions also extend to Scotland—

(a)
section 6;

(b)
section 7(9);

(c)
section 14;

(d)
section 15(5) (in so far as it relates to sections 6 and 7(9));

(e)
this section.

(6)
Subject to subsections (7) and (8), the provisions of this Act come into force on

such day as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument

appoint.

(7)
Sections 6 and 7(9) come into force in so far as they extend to Scotland on such

day as the Scottish Ministers may by order appoint.

(8)
Section 14, subsections (4) to (8) of section 15 and this section come into force

on the day on which this Act is passed.’.

New Clauses

Court orders restricting ability to make statements

John Hemming

NC1

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
In issuing any order restricting any individual’s freedom to make statements in

respect of any court action relating to defamation the court shall not include any

provision which prevents the individual concerned or any other individual from

passing information relevant to any regulatory requirements to any regulator

including the police, and the following statement shall be included in each such

court order—

  “Nothing in this order shall prevent any individual from making a

complaint to any regulatory body including the police or passing any

information to any regulatory body including the police.”.’.

Operators of websites: order for removal of defamatory statement

Robert Flello

nc2


To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
This section applies where an action for defamation may be brought in respect of

a statement posted on a website, whether or not such an action is actually brought

and regardless of whether the action lies against the operator of the website, the

author of the statement or both.

Notices of Amendments: 15 June 2012
17

Defamation Bill, continued

(2)
A claimant may apply to the court for an order that the operator remove the

relevant statement from the website.

(3)
Where an application for an order under this section is made—

(a)
the operator shall inform the author, if identifiable, of the relevant

statement about the application;

(b)
both the operator and the author, if known, may make written

submissions to the court in relation to the application, such written

submissions to be made available to the claimant, the operator and the

author, if known; and

(c)
the judge shall take into account any such written submissions before

coming to a decision in relation to whether or not to grant the order.

(4)
Any order under this section must be implemented by the operator no later than

seven days following notice of the order; and failure to comply with this time

limit will render the operator liable in an action for defamation as if the operator

were the author of the relevant statement.’.

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

Robert Flello

nc3


To move the following Clause:—

‘The civil legal aid provisions contained within the Legal Aid, Sentencing and

Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 shall not apply in relation to civil actions for

defamation.’.

Action for defamation brought by body corporate

Robert Flello

nc4


To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
Before bringing a claim for defamation, the body corporate shall obtain the

permission of the court.

(2)
In determining whether to grant permission, the matters to which the court may

have regard include, but are not limited to—

(a)
whether the body corporate can demonstrate an arguable case;

(b)
whether it could pursue alternative means of redress;

(c)
its size and area of operation;

(d)
the proportionality of allowing the corporation to bring a claim by

reference to the likely costs of the proceedings, and the level of harm

suffered, or likely to be suffered, by the corporation.

(3)
Subject to subsection (5), a body corporate which seeks to pursue an action for

defamation must show that the publication of the words or matters complained of

has caused, or is likely to cause, substantial financial loss to the body corporate.



© Parliamentary copyright	Revised 18 June 2012