Amendments proposed to the Communications Bill, As Amended - continued	House of Commons
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Mr Austin Mitchell

18

Page     424,     line     5     [Schedule     14],     at end insert—

    '6A(1)   No person owning any other channel or television or satellite station in the United Kingdom shall hold a Channel 5 licence.'.

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Mr John Whittingdale
Mr John Greenway
Mr Mark Hoban

115

*Page     429,     line     33,     [Schedule 14], leave out 'any provision' and insert 'Parts 3 or 4'.

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Mr John Whittingdale
Mr John Greenway
Mr Andrew Robathan
Mr Mark Hoban

87

*Page     449,     line     5     [Schedule 15],     at beginning insert—

    '(1)   Section 176 of the 1990 Act (duty to provide advance information about programmes) shall be amended as follows.

    (2)   In subsection (3)(b), for "the Secretary of State by order" there shall be substituted "OFCOM, following consultation with publishers and persons providing programming services".

    (3)   For subsection (4) there shall be substituted—

    "(4)   OFCOM shall produce a Code of Practice about the provision of advance information about programmes to publishers, to ensure the interests of consumers continue to be protected."

    (4)   '.

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Paul Farrelly
Mr John Grogan
Mr Simon Thomas
Mr Austin Mitchell

13

Page     451,     line     33     [Schedule     15],     leave out sub-paragraph (4) and insert—

    '(4)   For paragraph 1(2) and (3) of Part 2, there shall be substituted—

"(2)	Sub-paragraph (1) shall apply in relation to any Broadcasting Act licence other than a licence to provide a Channel 3 service and a Channel 5 licence as if paragraphs (a) and (b) (and the reference to those paragraphs in paragraph (i)) were omitted.".'.

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Secretary Tessa Jowell
Ms Secretary Hewitt

141

*Page     459     [Schedule     15],     leave out lines 42 and 43 and insert—

'(b)   for paragraphs (a) and (b) there shall be substituted—

"(a)	assistance for disabled people in relation to some or all of the programmes included in a digital programme service or qualifying service provided by him;

(b)	a service (apart from advertising) that relates to the promotion or listing of programmes included in such a serrvice or in a digital sound programme services so provided; or

(c)	any other service (apart from advertising) that is ancillary to one or more programmes so included, and relates directly to their contents.".'.

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Secretary Tessa Jowell
Ms Secretary Hewitt

142

*Page     460,     line     2     [Schedule     15],     at end insert—

'"assistance for disabled people" has the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003;'.

   

Secretary Tessa Jowell
Ms Secretary Hewitt

143

*Page     460,     line     4     [Schedule     15],     leave out 'the Communications Act 2003' and insert 'that Act'.

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REMAINING NEW CLAUSES

Deterrence of piracy, counterfeiting etc.

   

Mr Chris Smith

NC1

To move the following Clause:—

       '.—OFCOM may, if they think fit, undertake discussions with, and seek agreement from, broadcasters, producers, service providers and telecommunications companies, in order to assist the deterrence of piracy, counterfeiting and the unauthorised digital transference of moving image material; including in such discussions the promotion of common technical standards in order to facilitate deterrence, prevention, and detection.'.

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Duty to promote new telecommunications technologies

   

Mr Tim Yeo
Mr Crispin Blunt
Mr Andrew Robathan
Mr Henry Bellingham
Hugh Robertson
Mr Mark Field

NC2

To move the following Clause:—

       'It shall be the duty of OFCOM to promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for telecommunications consumers and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies, including broadband.'.

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Duty of OFCOM to review and report on press self-regulation

   

Mr Clive Soley

NC5

*To move the following Clause:—.

       'OFCOM shall, from time to time, review and report on the effectiveness of self-regulation by the press.'.

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Application of better regulation principles

   

Mr John Whittingdale
Mr John Greenway
Mr Andrew Robathan
Mr Mark Hoban

NC11

*To move the following Clause:—

       'In carrying out any function conferred on them by or under this Act, OFCOM shall have regard to—

(a)	the principles under which regulatory activities should be transparent, accountable, proportionate, consistent and targeted only at cases in which action is needed, and

(b)	any other principles appearing to OFCOM to represent the best regulatory practice.'.

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Restrictive covenants affecting freehold property

   

Mr John Whittingdale

Mr John Greenway

Mr Mark Hoban

NC12

*To move the following Clause:—

    '(1)   This section applies where by virtue of a restrictive covenant the owner of any permises is restricted, either absolutely or to any extent—

(a)	in choosing electronic communications services or a supplier of such services, or

(b)	with respect to any other electronic communications matter.

    (2)   Where this section applies, the covenant, to the extent that it restricts the owner of premises as mentioned in subsection (1),—

(a)	if it requires (expressly or otherwise) the consent of any person to be obtained before anything to which the restriction relates is done, shall have effect as if it required that consent not to be unreasonably withheld; and

(b)	in any other case, shall have effect as if it required the consent of the person entitled to the benefit of the restrictive covenant to the doing of anything to which the restriction relates not be unreasonably withheld

    (3)   Subsections (5) to (7) of section 130 shall apply in relation to a restriction falling within subsection (2) of this section as those subsections apply in relation to a prohibition or restriction falling within subsection (1) or (2) of section 130.

    (4)   Section 392 applies to the powers of OFCOM to make orders under this section'.

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National advisory committees

   

Mr Simon Thomas
Pete Wishart

NC19

*To move the following Clause—

    '(1)   It shall be the duty of OFCOM to establish and maintain National Advisory Committees for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

    (2)   The Chairman and membership of these committees shall be appointed by the Secretary of State.

    (3)   In making such appointments in respect of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State shall seek nomination from the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly respectively.

    (4)   The National Advisory Committees may consider and advise on all aspect of OFCOM's work in respect of their individual territories.

    (5)   The National Advisory committees may issue such recommendations to OFCOM or the Secretary of State with respect to their territories as they see fit.

    (6)   The National Advisory Committees shall produce an annual report on their activities.'.

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Duty relating to disabled users

   

Mr Simon Thomas

NC20

*To move the following Clause:—

'It shall be the duty of OFCOM to encourage electronic communications network operators and terminal equipment manufacturers to co-operate in order to facilitate access by disabled users to electronic communications services.'.

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John Robertson [R]
Mr Parmjit Dhanda [R]

150

*Page     1,     line     9     [Clause     1],     at end insert—

    '(1A)   OFCOM shall operate within a policy framework set annually by the Government and shall publish an annual report describing how it has interpreted that framework in each twelve month period.

    (1B)   OFCOM shall make itself regularly available for questioning both to a specially-constituted OFCOM Parliamentary Committee and in specific public forums on the contents of its annual report.'.

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Nick Harvey
Mr John Grogan
Paul Farrelly
Mr Chris Mullin
Mr Simon Thomas
Mr Austin Mitchell

3

Page     3,     line     4     [Clause     3],     after 'markets', insert 'and the public interest'.

   

Mr Andrew Lansley

203

*Page     3,     line     9     [Clause 3],     leave out from 'are' to 'and' in line 11 and insert—

'(i)	of high quality;

(ii)	calculated to appeal to a variety of tastes and interests, and

(iii)

in particular, calculated to reflect the lives and concerns of different communities and interests in the United Kingdom, and of the diversity of views which contribute to reflecting those concerns in relation to representative and participatory democratic institutions;'.

   

Mr John Whittingdale
Mr John Greenway
Mr Andrew Robathan
Mr Mark Hoban

84

*Page     3,     line     25     [Clause     3],     leave out paragraph (b).

   

Mr John Whittingdale
Mr John Greenway
Mr Andrew Robathan
Mr Mark Hoban

85

*Page     3,     line     30     [Clause     3],     leave out paragraph (d).

   

John Robertson [R]
Mr Parmjit Dhanda [R]

151

*Page     3,     line     39     [Clause     3],     at end insert—

'(gg)

the position of employees in the industry;'.

Prepared 21 Feb 2003