Communications Act 2003

Application of regulatory regimes

263 Application of regulatory regimes

(1) It shall be the duty of OFCOM, by exercising—

(a) their powers under the 1990 Act and the 1996 Act, and

(b) their powers under this Part,

to secure that the holder of every Broadcasting Act licence at all times holds his licence on the conditions which are for the time being included, under this Chapter and Chapter 5 of this Part, in the regulatory regime for the licensed service.

(2) It shall also be the duty of OFCOM to do all that they can to secure that the holder of every such licence complies, in relation to the licensed service, with the conditions so included in the regulatory regime for that service.

(3) Where—

(a) the licence for a Channel 3 service, for Channel 4, for Channel 5 or for the public teletext service (“the main service”) authorises or requires a corresponding or additional service to be provided in analogue form, and

(b) the regulatory regime for the main service imposes obligations in relation to programmes and other items included in that service,

those obligations are to apply equally to programmes that are included in the analogue service without being included in the main service.

(4) The Secretary of State may by order provide for conditions which are included by virtue of a provision of this Act in the regulatory regime for any service to cease to be so included.

(5) No order is to be made containing provision authorised by subsection (4) unless a draft of the order has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House.

(6) This section does not restrict OFCOM’s powers and duties apart from this section to impose obligations by means of the inclusion of conditions in a Broadcasting Act licence.