I thank the Minister for setting out the details of these regulations. Although the UK’s departure from the European Union was perhaps the most contentious issue of our generation and an outcome that I am on the record as having fought very hard indeed to prevent, these regulations are a non-contentious consequence of that departure, and the Minister will be glad to know that we will not oppose them.
As the Minister set out, these regulations are intended to ensure the proper functioning of UK law in relation to adoption and teacher misconduct now that article 3 of the e-commerce directive, or the country of origin principle, has ceased to apply in the UK, having left the transition period. They give force to the termination of the agreement with EEA states around digital trade by information society services or online service providers.
In the light of changes to our relationship with the EU, it is necessary to remove the country of origin principle from the 2005 e-commerce directive regulations in so far as they affect matters in scope of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 relating to the proper arrangement and advertisement of adoption services. Similarly, the Education Act 2002 must be amended to remove the same principle from the offence of publishing information in breach of reporting restrictions around allegations of teacher misconduct involving pupils. With the e-commerce directive no longer effective in the UK, it is right and proper that online service providers that commit offences under the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the Education Act 2002 are liable for prosecution in the UK, and that teachers, children and parents are afforded the necessary legal protections. We welcome the Government’s reaffirmation of this, along with the principle that the state has the authority to arrange and oversee adoptions.
The draft regulations were first laid in June 2019 for the purposes of addressing deficiencies in our laws that would arise from leaving the EU without a deal. As much as I wanted and campaigned for the UK to remain inside the EU, a Brexit deal was always preferable to no deal, and I am glad that these regulations have at least been brought under the former scenario, rather than the latter. However, it would have been even better if the deal had not been secured at the last possible moment, with details published just a handful of days before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 and MPs recalled to vote on the deal the day before new year’s eve. In this context, it is extremely important that online service providers and people affected by their services are not negatively impacted by changes such as the removal of the e-commerce directive and the introduction of a new regime in digital trade as a result of the Government’s incompetence, having left it so late to complete their Brexit negotiations and release details of the new arrangements.
Online service providers must be given clear information, guidance and time to understand new law and to make any arrangements to comply with it. It is important in this case, as the regulations that we are discussing relate to upholding the legal protections afforded to children and birth parents with respect to arranging and advertising adoptions, and to teachers with respect to their rights where allegations of an offence are made by, or on behalf of, a pupil.
Although there is no change of policy as a direct result of these regulations, I would none the less like to ask the Minister a series of questions. First, what steps have the Government taken to ensure that EEA-based online service providers operating in the areas here are aware of their new obligations under UK law? Similarly, what actions have been taken to ensure that providers that are UK-based but provide services in an EEA country understand that they must follow that country’s laws with respect to any services provided there? Secondly, what powers exist to enforce teacher misconduct reporting restrictions and adoption advertising prohibitions in a situation where information is published in breach of these rules by a UK-based online service provider in an EEA state? Must the teachers, children and birth parents affected rely solely on the EEA state’s laws, or are other legal protections available? Finally, what assessment have the Government made of the effectiveness of the regulation of online service providers when it comes to the arrangement of adoptions, and publishing offences in the field of adoption and education, in particular when those offences are committed outside the UK? I thank the Minister in advance for her consideration of my points and questions.
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