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| New Amendments handed in are marked thus  |
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| Amendments which will comply with the required notice period at their next appearance
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| | Resolution of the Programming Sub-Committee |
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| | The Programming Sub-Committee appointed by the Speaker in respect of the Bill |
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| | agreed the following Resolution at its meeting on Thursday 14 June (Standing Order No. |
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| | (1) | the Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 10.30 am on Tuesday |
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| | (a) | at 4.00 pm on Tuesday 19 June; |
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| | (b) | at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm on Thursday 21 June; |
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| | (c) | at 10.30 am and 4.00 pm on Tuesday 26 June; |
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| | (2) | the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a |
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| | conclusion at 7.00 pm on Tuesday 26 June. |
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| | Mr Jonathan Djanogly has given notice of his intention to move a motion in the terms |
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| | of the Resolution of the Programming Sub-Committee [Standing Order No. 83C]. |
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| | That, subject to the discretion of the Chair, any written evidence received by the |
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| | Committe shall be reported to the House for publication. |
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| Clause 1, page 1, line 3, after ‘unless’, insert ‘the extent of’. |
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| Clause 1, page 1, line 4, at end add ‘or to the reputation of the claimant’s close |
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| relative if that close relative died within the year prior to the defamatory statement being |
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| Clause 1, page 1, line 4, at end add— |
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| | ‘(2) | For the purposes of this section, “close relative” includes the claimant’s— |
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| | (c) | brother or sister; and |
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| Clause 2, page 1, line 14, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(3A) | The defence under this section does not fail on the basis that one or more of the |
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| | imputations is not shown to be substantially true, if that imputation would not |
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| | materially injure the claimant’s reputation in the light of what the defendant has |
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| | otherwise shown to be substantially true.’. |
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| Clause 3, page 2, line 8, at end insert ‘or’. |
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| Clause 3, page 2, line 11, leave out ‘did not hold the opinion’ and insert ‘acted out |
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| Clause 3, page 2, line 27, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(e) | a defence under common law qualified privilege.’. |
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| Clause 4, page 2, line 33, after ‘interest’, insert ‘unless the claimant can show that |
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| the defendant acted irresponsibly in publishing the statement complained of’. |
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| Clause 4, page 2, line 33, leave out from ‘interest’ to end of line 35. |
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| Clause 4, page 2, line 34, after ‘defendant’, insert ‘, having regard to the nature of |
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| the publisher, the publication and its context,’. |
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| Clause 4, page 2, line 38, after ‘regard’, insert ‘may’. |
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| Clause 4, page 2, leave out line 39. |
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| Clause 4, page 2, line 39, at end add ‘including whether it was part of a report of |
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| current or developing events.’. |
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| Clause 4, page 2, line 41, leave out paragraph (c). |
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| Clause 4, page 3, line 2, after ‘any’, insert ‘such’. |
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| Clause 4, page 3, line 4, leave out paragraph (g). |
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| Clause 4, page 3, line 6, leave out paragraph (h) and insert— |
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| | ‘(h) | the urgency of the matter.’. |
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| Clause 4, page 3, line 7, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(j) | the reasonable judgement of the author or editor, having regard to what |
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| | was known at the time of the decision to publish the statement.’. |
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| Clause 4, page 3, line 10, leave out from ‘dispute’ to end. |
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| Clause 4, page 3, line 11, leave out ‘this section’ and insert ‘subsection (3)’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 22, after ‘defence’, insert ‘to an action for damages for |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 23, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(2A) | The defence provided in this section is not affected by the operator having a |
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| | policy of amending content (“moderation”) after it has been published provided |
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| | that any changes made as a result of the actions of the moderator— |
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| | (a) | do not significantly increase the defamatory nature of the words |
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| | (b) | do not remove a relevant defence to an action for defamation in relation |
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| | to the words complained of; and |
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| | (c) | do not significantly increase the extent of the publication of the words |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 25, leave out paragraph (a) and insert— |
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| | ‘(a) | if it was not possible for the claimant to obtain sufficient identifying |
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| | details relating to the person who posted the statement so as to be able to |
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| | serve that person with legal process,’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 25, leave out from ‘possible’ to end of line 26 and insert— |
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| | ‘(i) | for the claimant to identify the person who posted the statement, |
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| | (ii) | for the claimant to contact the person who posted the statement.’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 27, leave out ‘the claimant gave the operator’ and insert ‘the |
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| operator was served with’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 30, leave out ‘any provision contained in regulations’ and |
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| insert ‘subsection (3A)’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 30, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(3A) | Where a complaint is received by an operator under subsection (3), the operator |
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| | must publish a notice of complaint alongside the relevant statement and, if the |
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| | operator fails to do so within seven days of notice of the complaint, the operator |
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| | will only be entitled to rely on the standard defences available to a primary |
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| | publisher, if sued for defamation.’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 30, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(3A) | The condition in sub-paragraph (3)(a)(ii) will be met if the claimant notified the |
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| | web operator and the web operator did not elicit a reply (for whatever reason) |
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| | from the author within a timescale provided for in regulations made under this |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 33, leave out paragraph (b) and insert— |
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| | ‘(b) | sets out the statement concerned and gives details as to why its |
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| | publication is unlawful (including, for the avoidance of doubt, |
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| | information as to why the statement is untrue or why other potential |
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| | defences do not apply).’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 35, leave out ‘was’ and insert ‘is’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 36, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(e) | is authorised by a court, which is satisfied on the basis of the information |
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| | that it has before it, that— |
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| | (i) | the statement concerned is capable of being defamatory |
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| | including having regard to section 1 (serious harm) and is |
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| | capable of representing a real and substantial tort in the |
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| | jurisdiction based on the extent of publication; |
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| | (ii) | would not be likely to benefit from a defence to an action for |
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| | (iii) | that the terms of subsection (3)(a) have been met. |
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| | (f) | may specify a time limit by which the statement complained of should be |
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| | removed in order to benefit from the defence in this section.’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 36, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(4A) | If, after service of a notice of complaint, an operator continues to publish the |
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| | statement complained of, the court may, on an application by the claimant, make |
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| | such order requiring the operator to take down the statement as the court |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 37, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(aa) | make provision as to the matters to be considered by the court when |
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| | considering an application to authorise the issue of a notice of complaint, |
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| | including the requirements needed to satisfy subsection (3A).’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 44, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(ca) | make provisions as to the procedure to be followed on the making of an |
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| | application for a take down order under subsection (4A).’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 45, at end add— |
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| | ‘(e) | make provision to require website operators to set up and publicise a |
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| | designated email address to receive notices of complaint; |
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| | (f) | may require, without exception, authors to release their identities to |
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| | website operators and complainants.’. |
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| Clause 5, page 3, line 45, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(5A) | For the purposes of this section— |
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| | (a) | the term “operator of a website” includes a web host, an operator of a |
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| | social media site, an operator of a search engine or any other information |
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| | society service provider; |
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| | (b) | an operator of a website which has an automated or manual moderation |
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| | policy through which it removes or edits content posted by third parties |
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| | will not be treated as the poster of a statement for the purposes of this |
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| | section unless the claimant can demonstrate that— |
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| | (i) | the website operator knew or ought to have known that it was |
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| | facilitating the publication of unlawfully defamatory material; or |
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| | (ii) | the removal or editing of the material by the website operator |
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| | rendered the statement defamatory.’. |
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| Clause 5, page 4, line 4, leave out from ‘section’ to end of line 5 and insert ‘shall |
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| not come into force without the affirmative resolution of both Houses of Parliament.’. |
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| Clause 5, page 4, line 6, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(9) | In section 1(c) of the Defamation Act 1996, leave out “a defamatory” and insert |
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| Clause 6, page 4, line 12, after ‘was’, insert ‘first’. |
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| Clause 7, page 5, line 22, after ‘proceedings’, insert ‘, or of the contents of a press |
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| release circulated or published’. |
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| Clause 8, page 6, line 44, leave out from ‘applies’ to end of line 3 on page 7 and |
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| | (a) | a statement is published to the public (“the first publication”), and |
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| | (b) | there is subsequently published (whether or not to the public) that |
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| | statement or a statement which is substantially the same.’. |
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| Clause 8, page 7, line 17, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(5A) | Publication shall not be deemed to be materially different merely by virtue of— |
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| | (a) | the publication, as part of a regular series of publications, without charge |
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| | on the internet of academic or scientific journals which required payment |
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| | to access when originally published; or |
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| | (b) | the creation of an archive accessible on the internet.’. |
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| Clause 8, page 7, line 17, at end insert— |
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| | ‘(c) | the comparative quality and credibility of the source of the subsequent |
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| | publication, compared with the first publication.’. |
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| Clause 9, page 7, line 27, after ‘against’, insert ‘or by’. |
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| Clause 10, page 8, line 21, after ‘person’, insert ‘(other than an operator of a |
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| website (as defined in Clause 5).’. |
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