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Dr. Howells: Through you, Mr. Atkinson, I apologise to the hon. Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford for upsetting him. He will be pleased when we have finished dealing with this group of amendments. I shall talk about the significance of the clause, then address the issues raised by the hon. Members for Sheffield, Hallam and for Maldon and East Chelmsford. As hon. Members will know, a substantial part of the Bill is concerned with the implementation in United Kingdom law of four European directives on the regulation of electronic communications. Indeed, part 2 is largely taken up with those matters. However, one aspect of the directives is dealt with appropriately at this point, Column Number: 115 immediately following the clause that we have just debated on the general duties of Ofcom.Article 8 of the framework directive, in setting out the basic provisions of the Community regulatory scheme, sets out the policy objectives and regulatory principles that will govern the performance by the national regulatory authorities in respect of the responsibilities that are assigned to them in pursuit of the directives. As the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam made clear, when Ofcom assumes its regulatory responsibilities, it will become the national regulatory authority for the UK. It will also be the source of the information that he rightly flags up as being required after that point. The objectives required by the directives will therefore become in effect an additional set of duties governing the performance of Ofcom's functions so far as they fall within the scope of the directives. The duties in relation to Ofcom, or ''Community requirements'' as the Bill describes them, are: to promote competition; to contribute to the development of the European internal market; to promote the interests of all citizens of the European Union; to carry out its functions so far as possible without discrimination between technologies or modes of electronic communication—that relates to the important point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda; to encourage the provision of network access and service interoperability; and to encourage compliance with international standards so far as is appropriate to facilitate service interoperability or to secure freedom of choice for consumers. Mr. Whitt—Whittingdale is popping up again; it is a fascinating place, Mr. Atkinson. The Bill will form part of UK law and has to be construed using the conventions and principles of interpretation of UK law. As those are not the same as the conventions and principles of interpretation of European Community law—the point raised by the hon. Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford—it is not always possible to use the literal words of directives to obtain the intended effect. The aim is to transpose the effect of directives as faithfully as possible into UK law, and we believe that we have achieved it.
10.45 amMembers of the Committee will note that some of the duties that I have listed overlap with, or are similar to, the duties under clause 3—the promotion of competition, for example. Others deal with issues not covered by clause 3. Partly for that reason and partly to provide a clear and distinct implementation of the directive, those requirements are implemented through a separate clause. Because the requirements implement provisions of European law, Ofcom must, under clause 3(5), give them precedence over the clause 3 duties in any case of conflict. I hope that that explanation helps. At first sight, amendment No. 3 looks like a laudable simplification of the Bill. It substitutes a defined term—''associated facility''—for what appears at first sight to be a passage effectively restating exactly Column Number: 116 the same concept. However, subsection (3)(b) runs wider than the concept of associated facilities because it also covers associated services. It must do so because the directive requires it. In setting out the policy objectives of national regulatory authorities on promoting competition, the directive refers to electronic communications networks and services, and associated facilities and services. If we are to transpose the directive's provisions faithfully, we need the broader concept of ''associated facilities and services''.Mr. Lansley: I appreciate the Minister's careful response to my hon. Friend the Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford. However, if the intention is to reflect the directive precisely and if amendment No. 30 does not quite achieve that because it should read ''electronic communications services and associated facilities and services'', why would an amendment in those terms be unacceptable? Dr. Howells: That is not the amendment before us. As the hon. Gentleman said, the wording must be precise. If I can move on, it should help to explain the position. Amendments Nos. 31 and 32 are designed to replace
in subsection (9) with
At first sight, it seems a more faithful transposition of article 17.2 of the directive, and we shall certainly examine the amendments carefully. If necessary, we shall table suitable amendments on Report. I therefore ask the hon. Gentleman to withdraw the amendment. Mr. Whittingdale: I can assure the Minister that the small degree of hurt that I felt earlier has largely been removed as a result of his contribution. My hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire made a good point about amendment No. 30, when he said that the Minister acknowledged that removing two paragraphs and replacing them with a much smaller form of words would simplify and improve the Bill. If the addition of the words ''and services'' to my amendment would negate the need for paragraphs (b) and (c), surely it would be an improvement. Nevertheless, I accept the Minister's explanation and welcome his undertaking to re-examine the wording of subsection (9) in order properly to reflect the directive's requirement. I look forward to seeing his later conclusions and perhaps his tabling of amendments on Report. In the spirit of his response, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 4 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
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| ©Parliamentary copyright 2002 | Prepared 12 December 2002 |
