Communications Bill

Not to be confused with the Communications Data Bill which deals with the collection of data

Jeremy Hunt announced in 2011 that he intends to put a new Communications Bill before Parliament. This would update the Communications Act 2003. A bill is expected to be produced for the 2014-15 parliamentary session.

Announcement

Jeremy Hunt first announced his intention to introduce the Bill in May 2011.[1][2].

Green Paper

The Communications green paper was originally expected at the beginning of 2012.[3] It was then expected in Spring 2012, and then later expected "before the Olympics". It was later confirmed that a green paper will not be published until after the Olympics[4], so it might have been expected sometime after the parliamentary summer recess[5], 3rd September 2012 at the earliest[6]. On June 7th, DCMS announced the green paper would be scrapped in favour of Communications Review policy seminars leading to a white paper.[7]

Seminars

Seminar details at DCMS

  • 4 July 2012: The consumer perspective
    • This one seems to touch on digital rights areas
    • DCMS did not accept Open Rights Group's application to attend this event.
    • A 28-page transcript of this seminar has been published.
  • 9 July 2012: Competition in the content market
  • 12 July 2012: Maximising the value of spectrum to support growth and innovation
  • 16 July 2012: Driving investment and growth in the UK’s TV content industries
  • TBA September 2012: Supporting growth in the radio (audio) sector


White paper announcement

In a speech to the Oxford media convention, Ed Vaizey MP made reference to the white paper being released prior to April 2013. The speech made clear reference to mandatory opt-out adult internet filtering:

We are working with industry to implement our new system, where every parent will be prompted to protect their child online. Protection will automatically be on if parents don't make choices. No other Government has taken such radical steps before. And once this is in place, Britain will have the most robust internet child protection measures of any country in the world - bar none.[8]

DCMS policy paper

A whitepaper was expected in early 2013.[9]

Next steps

Issues

Issues that have previously been suggested for inclusion in the review include:

Online

References