Children and Young Persons — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the draft Electronic Commerce Directive (Education, Adoption and Children) (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2021, which were laid before this House on 18 January, be approved I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the European Statutory Instruments Committee for considering these regulations. I also thank the other place for approving the regulations on 10 February, following what may have been the quickest debate in parliamentary history Let me assure Members that these regulations do not change policy. They are a technical measure to remedy deficiencies of retained EU law arising from the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU. They are necessary to enable our legislation, which I will speak to in more detail shortly, to operate properly now that we have left the EU and the transition period has finished. The regulations remove statutory measures that implemented article 3 of the e-commerce directive, better known as the country of origin principle, from two pieces of legislation: the Education Act 2002 and the Electronic Commerce Directive (Adoption and Children Act 2002) Regulations 2005 The e-commerce directive was introduced by the EU in 2000 to facilitate digital trade within the EU’s internal market, allowing the free movement of information society services, more commonly referred to as online service providers. The country of origin principle applies to online service providers operating across the European economic area. The principle means that online service providers only have to follow certain rules in the state in which they are established, rather than the rules in each state where their service is received. It applied to a variety of UK legislation These regulations concern two aspects of policy: teacher misconduct and adoption. Section 141F of the Education Act 2002 sets out reporting restrictions that aim to protect the identification of a teacher in England and Wales facing an allegation of an offence made by or on behalf of a pupil until the point at which legal proceedings have begun or the Secretary of State for Education publishes information following an investigation or decision about the allegation. Section 141G makes it an offence to publish information in breach of section 141F. Schedule 11B applies the country of origin principle to the offence created by section 141G The Electronic Commerce Directive (Adoption and Children Act 2002) Regulations 2005 give effect to the country of origin principle for two offences in the Adoption and Children Act 2002. First, section 92, dealing with restrictions on arranging adoptions, prevents anyone who is not an adoption agency or acting pursuant to a court order from taking steps to arrange the adoption of a child. Secondly, sections 123 and 124 deal with restrictions on the advertising of adoptions and prohibit advertisements relating to the adoption of a child unless undertaken by an adoption agency The regulations before the House will change where online service providers that break the law are able to be prosecuted. If an online service provider commits an offence created by the Education Act 2002 and the Adoption and Children Act 2002 in the UK, they will be liable for prosecution in the UK. If a UK-based online service provider publishes prohibited information in a European economic area state, they will be subject to prosecution in the state in which they commit the offence. The other place concluded that the draft regulations were logical and appropriate. They will ensure that our legislation continues to operate effectively. I therefore commend these regulations to the House.