Digital Single Market: UK IPO consults on enforcement options for new Content Portability Regulation

United KingdomScotland

The Government has launched a consultation on UK enforcement mechanisms for the new EU Regulation on the cross border portability of paid-for online content, which comes into force on 1 April 2018. The consultation sets out the Government’s proposals on the mechanisms by which the various new rights and obligations should be enforced, including (variously) through civil action, under the CDPA, under consumer protection legislation and under the Enterprise Act. It includes a draft Statutory Instrument which would create a specific duty owed by an online content service provider to subscribers, actionable against the provider by subscribers. The Government seeks the views of rights holders and other interested parties on these enforcement mechanisms, and also on the UK’s approach to the Regulation post-Brexit, by 31 January.

The 14 page consultation document is available on the UKIPO website here. For a summary of the new obligations for content providers, see our earlier analysis here.