Vote Bundle Text (930228-02)

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

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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.'.

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 premises 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.'.

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.'.

Duty relating to disabled users

Mr Simon Thomas
John McDonnell

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.'.

Functions of OFCOM in respect of Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice

Mr Chris Mullin
Mr Clive Soley

NC21

To move the following Clause:—

'.—(1) It shall be the duty of OFCOM to make such arrangements as they think fit to provide for the enforcement of the Code of Practice issued by the Press Complaints Commission.

(2) In pursuance of its duty under subsection (1), OFCOM may—

(a) issue such directions as they think fit to the Commission, and

(b) impose penalties in accordance with subsections (3) and (4).

(3) OFCOM may impose a penalty on any party to the Code if that party has, in the opinion of the Commission, breached the terms of the Code.

(4) A penalty under subsection (3) is to be such amount not exceeding £500,000 as OFCOM determine to be—

(a) appropriate; and

(b) proportionate to the breach of the Code in respect of which it is imposed.

(5) In this section—

"the Code of Practice" and the "Code" mean the Code of Practice issued by the Press Complaints Commission in December 1999 and any subsequent revision of that Code (including any such revision of the coming into force of this section),

"a party to the Code" means any person engaged in the publication of a newspaper or magazine who has agreed not to comply with its provisions, and

"Press Complaints Commission" and "Commission" mean the body first established in 1991.'.

Limits on ownership of national daily and Sunday newspapers

Mr Chris Mullin

NC22

To move the following Clause:—

'.—(1) It shall be the duty of the Office of Fair Trading to exercise their powers under this section to secure that, within a period of one year after the coming into force of this section, no person runs more than one national daily newspaper and no person runs more than one national Sunday newspaper.

(2) In pursuance of the duty specified in subsection (1) the Office of Fair Trading may issue an enforcement order which may provide for—

(a) the division of any business (whether by the sale of any part of the undertaking or assets or otherwise);

(b) the division of any group of interconnected bodies corporate;

(3) The provisions of Part 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (c. 40) shall apply to an enforcement order under subsection (2) as if that order were an order under section 86 of that Act.

(4) In this section the expression "runs a newspaper" shall be construed in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 2 to this Act.'.

Reviews and report by OFCOM on compliance with Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice in context of newspaper mergers

Mr Clive Soley

NC26

To move the following Clause:—

'After section 44A of the Enterprise Act 2002 (c. 40) (additional investigation and report by OFCOM: newspaper mergers) there shall be inserted—

"44B Further investigation and report by OFCOM on compliance with Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice

(1) This section applies where—

(a) the Secretary of State has given an intervention notice in relation to a relevant merger situation; and

(b) the intervention notice mentions any newspaper public interest consideration.

(2) OFCOM may, within the period required by the Secretary for a report under section 44A, give a report to the Secretary of State on the compliance of newspapers affected by the relevant merger situation with the Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice.

(3) Any report given under subsection (2) shall contain OFCOM's advice on the relevance of any information about the compliance of newspapers affected by the relevant merger situation with the Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice to any newspaper public interest consideration mentioned in the intervention notice concerned and which is or may be relevant to the Secretary of State's decision as to whether to make a reference under section 45.

(4) For the purposes of carrying out their functions under subsections (2) and (3), OFCOM shall, from time to time, review the operation of the Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice.

(5) In this section—

"the Press Complaints Commission" means the body first established in 1991, and

"the Code of Practice" means the Code of Practice issued by the Press Complaints Commission in December 1999 and any subsequent revision of that Code (including any such revision of the Code after the coming into force of this section).".'.

Creator consultation

Nick Harvey
Mr Richard Allan

NC27

*To move the following Clause:

'(1) It shall be the duty of OFCOM to establish and maintain effective arrangements for consultation about the carrying out of their functions with—

(a) creators, including a person from the United Kingdom music creating community, in the markets for television content supply for independent producers and the public service and commercial broadcasters in relation to which OFCOM have functions; and

(b) creators, including a person from the United Kingdom music creating community, in the markets for radio broadcasting in relation to which OFCOM have functions.

(1) The arrangements must include the establishment and maintenance of a panel of persons (in this Act referred to as "the Creator Panel") with the function of advising both—

(a) OFCOM; and

(b) such other persons as the Panel think fit.

(3) The arrangements made by OFCOM under this section must also secure that the Creator Panel are able to do each of the following—

(a) make arrangements for the carrying out of research into matters appearing to the Panel to be relevant to the carrying out of OFCOM'S duties and the Panel's functions as they think fit;

(b) give advice to OFCOM in relation to any matter referred to the Panel by OFCOM for advice;

(c) publish such information as the Panel think fit about the advice they give, and about the results of research carried out by them or on their behalf.

(4) It shall be the duty of OFCOM, in the carrying out of their functions, to consider and, to such extent as they think appropriate, to have regard to—

(a) any advice given to OFCOM by the Creator Panel; and

(b) any results notified to OFCOM of any research undertaken by that Panel.

(5) It shall also be the duty of OFCOM (subject to subsection (6))—

(a) to provide the Creator Panel with all such information as, having regard, in particular, to the need to preserve commercial confidentiality, OFCOM consider appropriate to disclose to the Panel for the purpose of enabling the Panel to carry out their functions; and

(b) to provide the Panel with all such further information as the Panel may require.

(6) OFCOM is not required to provide information by virtue of subsection (5)(b) if, having regard to:

(a) the need to preserve commercial confidentiality; and

(b) any other matters that appear to OFCOM to be relevant, it is reasonable for OFCOM to refuse to disclose it to the Panel.

(7) It shall be the duty of OFCOM, in the case of any advice or opinion received from and published by the Panel which OFCOM propose to disregard in whole or in part, or with which OFCOM disagree in whole or in part—

(a) to ensure that the Panel know of OFCOM's reasons for disregarding or disagreeing with the advice or opinion; and

(b) to ensure that those reasons are or have been published in such a manner as OFCOM consider appropriate for bringing them to the attention of persons who are aware of the Panel's advice or opinion.'.