A
BILL
TO
Make provision to decriminalise the non-payment of the BBC licence fee.
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
(1)
Section 363 (licence required for use of TV receiver) of the Communications Act
2003 is amended as follows.
(2)
In subsections (2) and (3), for “guilty of an offence” substitute “is guilty of a
5civil offence”.
(3) Leave out subsection (4) and insert—
“(4)
A person guilty of a civil offence under this section shall be liable to a
penalty charge.
(4A)
The Secretary of State shall specify by regulations subject to affirmative
10resolution by the House of Commons the levels of charges to be
imposed under this section.”
(1) This Act may be cited as the BBC Licence Fee (Civil Debt) Act 2013.
(2) This Act shall come into force on 1 January 2017.
(3) 15This Act extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.