My Lords, I restate these Benches’ support for Part 1, which introduces a range of important powers and processes relating to the security of consumer-connectable products, including smart TVs, smartphones, connected baby monitors and connected alarm systems, all of which we use in our day-to-day lives. For me, the legislation that we seek to improve today is much needed and needs to move with the times and the way we live. For example, in 2006 there were just 13 million of these devices but in 2024, there is likely to be more than 150 million in the UK alone—a huge projected rise.
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Fox, for introducing this sensible amendment, and to the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, whose name is also on it. It seeks to introduce or suggest some guiding principles relating to product security. For me, the key principles are that manufactures, importers and distributors have a responsibility and a duty of care to meet minimum cybersecurity requirements and look forward to emerging security threats. It seems wise and sensible to include
these, so I hope the Minister will take them into account. As the noble Lord, Lord Fox, said, the exact wording of the amendment does not have to be used; it is about the principles. Indeed, it is about not just principles but practice: the message given to consumers as well as to manufacturers, importers and distributors.
I know that in other legislation the Government are often nervous about using the phrase “duty of care”, but, as the Minister knows, there are very real concerns about data collection and privacy. I suggest that this is the very least that consumers should be able to expect. While it may be said that the other principles are not necessary to include, there have been several cases of manufacturers knowing about, yet failing to act on, significant security flaws. I feel this is something we need to guard against.
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One further reason the amendment is appealing, and I hope the Minister will find it so, is that it will focus minds when forthcoming regulations are drawn up, not just because of the reassurance to consumers, which I have already spoken of, but for the reasons that will be discussed in the next group of amendments—they will be dealt with by my noble friend Lord Bassam. It is clear that the department needs to do more to show that there is a proper grip on these issues.
Before I close my brief comments, I want to say that I am grateful to the National Cyber Security Centre for its work in this area and I also express my thanks to the various tech and retail stakeholders, consumer groups, academics and many others who are also keen to ensure that this legislation is as workable and practicable as it can be. With that, I look forward to hearing from the Minister and hope that he will be able to reflect on this debate and think about the next steps that need to be taken between Committee and Report.