Part III: Licence Modification Procedure
Section 12: Appeals against modifications of licences
68.This section provides for an appeal under section 46B of the Telecommunications Act 1984 against licence modification decisions under section 12 of a licence granted to a particular person. (Section 46B provides for appeals against a range of regulatory decisions on wider grounds than those provided by judicial review.)
Section 14: Prohibition on key escrow requirements
69.This section limits the powers given by this Act to any Minister of the Crown, the Scottish Ministers, the National Assembly for Wales, or any person appointed under section 3, such that these powers may not impose requirements on a person to deposit a key for electronic data with any other person. Subsection (2) makes clear that a key may be required to be deposited with a person to whom the communication is sent and that alternative arrangements to key-storage may be required to prevent the loss of data or the ability to decode it. Subsection (3) defines a key for the purposes of this section, making use of the definition of being put into an intelligible form given in section 15 (3).
Section 15: General interpretation
70.This section provides for the interpretation of various terms used throughout the Act.
71.Subsection (1) inter alia defines:
electronic communication to mean a communication transmitted (whether from one person to another, from one device to another or from a person to a device or vice versa) by means of a telecommunication system (within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act 1984), or by other means but while in an electronic form.
Section 4(1) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 says
In this Act telecommunication system means a system for the conveyance, through the agency of electric, magnetic, electro-magnetic, electro-chemical or electro-mechanical energy of-
(a)speech, music and other sounds;
(b)visual images;
(c)signals serving for the impartation (whether as between persons and persons, things and things or persons and things) of any matter otherwise than in the form of sounds or visual images; or
(d)signals serving for the actuation or control of machinery or apparatus.
subordinate legislation as having the same meaning as in the Interpretation Act 1978, and also including corresponding secondary legislation made under Acts of the Scottish Parliament and certain statutory rules in Northern Ireland.
Section 21(1) of the Interpretation Act 1978 provides that subordinate legislation means Orders in Council, orders, rules, regulations, schemes, warrants, byelaws and other instruments made or to be made under any Act.
