House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Session 2012 - 13
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Other Bills before Parliament

5

House of Commons

Thursday 21 June 2012

Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Defamation Bill

[Third Sitting]

Mr Jonathan Djanogly

That the Order of the Committee of 19 June be amended as follows:

    In paragraph (1)(b) leave out “and 1.00 pm”.

Agreed to

Paul Farrelly

Withdrawn  42

Clause  5,  page  3,  line  25,  leave out paragraph (a) and insert—

‘(a)
it was not possible for the claimant to obtain sufficient identifying details

relating to the person who posted the statement so as to be able to serve

that person with legal process,’.

Robert Flello

Not called  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.’.

Robert Flello

Not called  19

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

operator was served with’.

Robert Flello

Not called  9

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

insert ‘subsection (3A)’.

Robert Flello

Not called  10

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

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 21 June 2012
6

Defamation Bill, continued

‘(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

Not called  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.’.

Paul Farrelly

Not called  43

Clause  5,  page  3,  line  33,  leave out paragraph (b) and insert—

‘(b)
sets out the statement concerned and gives details as to why its

publication is unlawful (including, for the avoidance of doubt,

information as to why the statement is untrue or why other potential

defences do not apply).’.

Robert Flello

Not called  21

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

Robert Flello

Not called  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.’.

Paul Farrelly

Withdrawn  44

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

‘(4A)
If, after service of a notice of complaint, an operator continues to publish the

statement complained of, the court may, on an application by the claimant, make

such order requiring the operator to take down the statement as the court

considers just.’.

Robert Flello

Not called  23

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

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 21 June 2012
7

Defamation Bill, continued

‘(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).’.

Paul Farrelly

Not called  45

Clause  5,  page  3,  line  44,  at end insert—

‘(ca)
make provisions as to the procedure to be followed on the making of an

application for a take down order under subsection (4A).’.

Helen Goodman

Not called  33

Clause  5,  page  3,  line  45,  at end add—

‘(e)
make provision to require website operators to set up and publicise a

designated email address to receive notices of complaint;

(f)
may require, without exception, authors to release their identities to

website operators and complainants.’.

Paul Farrelly

Withdrawn  46

Clause  5,  page  3,  line  45,  at end insert—

‘(5A)
For the purposes of this section—

(a)
the term “operator of a website” includes a web host, an operator of a

social media site, an operator of a search engine or any other information

society service provider;

(b)
an operator of a website which has an automated or manual moderation

policy through which it removes or edits content posted by third parties

will not be treated as the poster of a statement for the purposes of this

section unless the claimant can demonstrate that—

(i)
the website operator knew or ought to have known that it was

facilitating the publication of unlawfully defamatory material; or

(ii)
the removal or editing of the material by the website operator

rendered the statement defamatory.’.

Robert Flello

Negatived on division  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

Not selected  25

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

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

“an unlawful”.’.

Clause Agreed to on division.

[Adjourned until Tuesday 26 June at 10.30 am



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