Electronic Commerce Directive (Hatred against Persons on Religious Grounds or the Grounds of Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2010

My Lords, as the Minister describes it, this is a technical measure and I, too, was slightly confused by it. I decided that this was due to it being above my pay grade, rather than being unclear also to those who were slightly better versed in the measures. It is somewhat clearer to me now, after the Minister gave us such a clear explanation, for which I thank him. As we understand it, the regulations on information society services are tweaked to fit in with the amended Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986. They are narrow regulations, constrained in their scope. We hope that they will be applied proportionately. We are in broad agreement with them, but seek one or two clarifications. The first is on the "country of origin" rules. While I understand the way that they will work in England and Wales and in other EEA states, what is not immediately clear is what happens if an offence of stirring up religious hatred or hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation under UK law is committed when the commercial service provider is not based in either the UK or the EEA area—when it is based, for example, in the Middle East or another part of the world. Do we have any mechanisms to deal with that material? This is a wide question, and I will understand if the Minister cannot deal with it today. My final question is: can the Minister give us an indication of when the regulations will come into effect? He said that he wanted them to come into effect as soon as possible; I wonder whether he has some dates in mind. Will he also clarify whether only England and Wales are covered by the regulations, or whether Scotland and Northern Ireland are also included?