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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
2000 No. 1175
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The Conditional Access (Unauthorised Decoders)
Regulations 2000
Made ----- 27th April 2000
Laid before Parliament 3rd May 2000
Coming into force - - 28th May 2000
The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated( a) for the purposes of section 2(2) of the
European Communities Act 1972( b) in respect of measures relating to advanced television
services including digital conditional access and subscription management services, in theexercise of the powers conferred on him by that section, hereby makes the followingRegulations:
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Conditional Access (Unauthorised Decoders)
Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 28th May 2000.
Amendments of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
2.—(1) The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988( c) shall be amended in accordance
with the following paragraphs.
(2) For section 297A there shall be substituted the following section—
“Unauthorised 297A—(1) A person commits an o ﬀence if he—
decoders.
(a) makes, imports, distributes, sells or lets for hire or o ﬀers or
exposes for sale or hire any unauthorised decoder;
(b) has in his possession for commercial purposes any
unauthorised decoder;
(c) instals, maintains or replaces for commercial purposes any
unauthorised decoder; or
(d) advertises any unauthorised decoder for sale or hire or
otherwise promotes any unauthorised decoder by means ofcommercial communications.
(2) A person guilty of an o ﬀence under subsection (1) is liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a ﬁne not exceeding the statutory
maximum;
(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding two years, or to a ﬁne, or to both.
a)( S.I. 1996/266.
b)( 1972 c. 68.
c)( 1988 c. 48; section 297A was introduced by section 179 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (1990 c. 42) and amended by
section 140 of the Broadcasting Act 1996 (1996 c. 55), and section 298 was extended by section 141 of the Broadcasting
Act 1996.
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(3) It is a defence to any prosecution for an o ﬀence under this section for
the defendant to prove that he did not know, and had no reasonable groundfor believing, that the decoder was an unauthorised decoder.
(4) In this section—
“apparatus” includes any device, component or electronic
data (including software);
“conditional access technology” means any technical
measure or arrangement whereby access to encryptedtransmissions in an intelligbile form is made conditional onprior individual authorisation;
“decoder” means any apparatus which is designed or adapted
to enable (whether on its own or with any other apparatus) an
encrypted transmission to be decoded;
“encrypted” includes subjected to scrambling or the
operation of cryptographic envelopes, electronic locks,passwords or any other analogous application;
“transmission” means—
(a) any programme included in a broadcasting or cable
programme service which is provided from a place in theUnited Kingdom or any other member State; or
(b) an information society service (within the meaning of
Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and ofthe Council of 22nd June 1998( a), as amended by
Directive 98/48/EC of the European Parliament and ofthe Council of 20th July 1998( b)) which is provided from
a place in the United Kingdom or any other memberState; and
“unauthorised”, in relation to a decoder, means that the
decoder is designed or adapted to enable an encryptedtransmission, or any service of which it forms part, to beaccessed in an intelligible form without payment of the fee
(however imposed) which the person making the
transmission, or on whose behalf it is made, charges foraccessing the transmission or service (whether by thecircumvention of any conditional access technology relatedto the transmission or service or by any other means).”
(3) For section 298 there shall be substituted the following section—
“Rights and 298.—(1) A person who—
remedies in(a) makes charges for the reception of programmes included in a respect of
apparatus, &c. broadcasting or cable programme service provided from a
for place in the United Kingdom or any other member State,unauthorised(b) sends encrypted tranmissions of any other description from a reception oftransmissions.
place in the United Kingdom or any other member State, or
(c) provides conditional access services from a place in the
United Kingdom or any other member State,
is entitled to the following rights and remedies.
(2) He has the same rights and remedies against a person—
(a) who—
(i) makes, imports, distributes, sells or lets for hire, o ﬀers or
exposes for sale or hire, or advertises for sale or hire,
(ii) has in his possession for commercial purposes, or
(iii) instals, maintains or replaces for commercial purposes,
any apparatus designed or adapted to enable or assist
persons to access the programmes or other transmissions
a)( O.J. L204, 21.7.98, p.37
b)( O.J. L217, 5.8.98, p.18
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or circumvent conditional access technology related to
the programmes or other transmissions when they arenot entitled to do so, or
(b) who publishes or otherwise promotes by means of
commercial communications any information which iscalculated to enable or assist persons to access theprogrammes or other transmissions or circumventconditional access technology related to the programmes orother transmissions when they are not entitled to do so,
as a copyright owner has in respect of an infringement of copyright.
(3) Further, he has the same rights under section 99 or 100 (delivery up
or seizure of certain articles) in relation to any such apparatus as a copyrightowner has in relation to an infringing copy.
(4) Section 72 of the Supreme Court Act 1981, section 15 of the Law
1981 c. 54.
Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1985 and section 94A of 1985 c. 37.
the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 (withdrawal of privilege against 1978 c. 23.
self-incrimination in certain proceedings relating to intellectual property)
apply to proceedings under this section as to proceedings under Part I of this
Act (copyright).
(5) In section 97(1) (innocent infringement of copyright) as it applies to
proceedings for infringement of the rights conferred by this section, thereference to the defendant not knowing or having reason to believe thatcopyright subsisted in the work shall be construed as a reference to his notknowing or having reason to believe that his acts infringed the rightsconferred by this section.
(6) Section 114 applies, with the necessary modiﬁcations, in relation to
the disposal of anything delivered up or seized by virtue of subsection (3)above.
(7) In this section “appartus”, “conditional access technology” and
“encrypted” have the same meanings as in section 297A, “transmission”includes transmissions as deﬁned in that section and “conditional accessservices” means services comprising the provision of conditional accesstechnology.”
Amendments of the Telecommunications Act 1984
3.—(1) Section 42A of the Telecommunications Act 1984( a) shall be amended in accordance
with the following paragraphs.
(2) In subsection (1), after the words “Subsection (2) below applies if a person has in his
custody or under his control anything” there shall be inserted the words “(other than anunauthorised decoder as deﬁned in section 297A(4) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
1988 c. 48.
Act 1988)”.
(3) In subsection (3), after the words “Subsection (4) below applies if a person supplies or
oﬀers to supply anything” there shall be inserted the words “(other than an unauthorised
decoder as deﬁned in section 297A(4) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988)”.
Repeals
4. Section 179(1) of the Broadcasting Act 1990( b) and sections 140 and 141 of the
Broadcasting Act 1996( c) are repealed.
Patricia Hewitt,
Minister for Small Business and E-Commerce,
Deparment of Trade and Industry 27th April 2000
a)( 1984 c. 12. Section 42A was introduced by the Telecommunications (Fraud) Act 1997 (1997 c. 4.).
b)( 1990 c. 42.
c)( 1996 c. 55.
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EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations implement Directive 98/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the legal protection of services based on, or consisting of, conditional access (OJL320, 28.11.98, p.54) (“the Directive”).
The Directive provides for protection against illicit devices which enable or facilitate the
circumvention of technological measures designed to protect television and radio subscriptionservices, “information society services” (as deﬁned in the Directive) and conditional accessservices (which are to be a ﬀorded the same legal protection as the other services).
These Regulations amend sections 297A and 298 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988 (“the 1988 Act”) and section 42A of the Telecommunications Act 1984 (“the 1984 Act”).
Section 297A of the 1988 Act now covers the activities prohibited by the Directive. The rights
and remedies in section 298 now extend to the providers of information society services andconditional access services.
Section 42A of the 1984 Act is amended so as to avoid overlap with the amended section
297A of the 1988 Act.
A Regulatory Impact Assessment is available and can be obtained from the Copyright
Directorate, The Patent O ﬃce, Harmsworth House, 13-15 Bouverie Street, London
EC4Y 8DP.
£1.50
?Crown copyright 2000
Printed and published in the UK by The Stationery O ﬃce Limited
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