Key Facts

• New clauses and amendments aim to ease compliance with PEC regulations.
• Representative bodies can design voluntary codes of conduct for their members.
• Consultation requirements can be satisfied by pre-commencement consultation.
• Amendment 116 aims to narrow the exemption for collecting statistical information.
• Current rules require organisations to get freely given, specific and informed consent for cookies.
• Clause 79 seeks to reduce cookie fatigue by exempting audience measurement cookies from consent requirements.
• Amendments 49 to 51 remove user options to object or disable security updates.
• Regulation 6B requires consultation with the Information Commissioner and other parties before new regulations are made on consent management tools.
• Government amendment 54 adds the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as a required consultee for future consultations.
• Amendment 117 seeks to remove new regulation 6B from the Bill.
• Regulation 6B aims to allow users to set cookie preferences through browser-level settings.
• Google Chrome has a 77% market share on desktops and over 60% overall including mobile devices.
• The Competition and Markets Authority will be consulted before new regulations are made under 6B.
• Researchers found people often agree to cookies just to make banners disappear or access services quickly.
• The clause removes consent requirements for low privacy risk cookie uses.
• The Information Commissioner will have additional power to investigate unsolicited direct marketing communications, including those generated but not received.
• Clause 80 introduces measures for the Information Commissioner to investigate organisations responsible for unsolicited direct marketing communications.
• Clause 81 lifts the definition of 'direct marketing' from the Data Protection Act 1998 and places it into PEC regulations.
• Clause 82 extends soft opt-in rules to charities and non-commercial organisations.
• Amendment 118 aims to provide clarity on the obligation for telecoms providers not to monitor communications.
• Telecoms providers have raised concerns about the technological feasibility of identifying instances of unlawful direct marketing.
• BT Call Protect, used by 4.4 million customers, averages 2.35 million calls diverted per week.
• Amendment 118 proposed by Stephanie Peacock seeks to clarify that providers are not obligated to monitor individual communication contents.
• The amendment includes provisions for illustrative examples of reasonable suspicion regarding contraventions of direct marketing regulations.
• The Committee voted against the amendment with Ayes 4 and Noes 8.
• Clause 86 updates the ICO’s powers in respect of enforcing PEC regulations with same investigatory and enforcement powers under GDPR.
• The maximum penalty for serious breaches will increase to £17.5 million or 4% of a company’s annual turnover, whichever is higher.
• Labour proposes blocking overseas scam calls using UK numbers and registering legitimate companies as exceptions.
• Trust services include electronic signatures, seals, timestamps, delivery services, and website authentication.
• These clauses aim to adjust the legal framework for trust service products within the UK.
• The adjustments are intended to ensure flexibility in case EU regulations become inadequate.
• Clause 92 amends section 35 of the Digital Economy Act to allow public authorities to share information with businesses for better service delivery.
• Clause 93 creates a delegated power for the Secretary of State and concurrent powers for Welsh and Scottish Ministers to make regulations implementing international law enforcement agreements.
• New clause 5 defines 'appropriate national authority' in relation to these powers.
• Clause 93 allows regulations to enact international agreements for information sharing in law enforcement.
• Stephanie Peacock seeks information from the Minister regarding identified targets for such agreements.
• Clauses 94 to 98 amend acts related to registration services.
• Currently, births and deaths are recorded electronically alongside paper systems since 2009.
• New section 25 allows the Registrar General to determine electronic forms for registers.
• Clause 96(2) inserts a new section 38B regarding signing requirements for non-paper registers.
• Since July 1, 2009, birth and death records are held both in paper and electronic format.
• The amendments cover clauses 94 to 98.
• One recommendation from the 2022 UK Commission on Bereavement was online death registration.
• Currently, the Tell Us Once service is limited to Government and public sector bodies.
• 61% of adult respondents reported experiencing practical challenges when notifying organisations about a loved one's death.
• Information standards are crucial for data sharing in health care.
• Variability in technical and IT security standards hinders interoperability.
• MedConfidential raises concerns about new section 251ZE regarding accreditation of information technology.