Communications Act 2003

Prospective

Wireless Telegraphy Act 1998 E+W+S+N.I.

145 Subject to any other amendment made by any other provision of this Act, in sections 1 to 4 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1998 (c. 6), for the words “the Secretary of State”, “Secretary of State” and “The Secretary of State”, wherever occurring, there shall be substituted “ OFCOM ”. E+W+S+N.I.

146 In section 1 of that Act (charges for wireless telegraphy licences)— E+W+S+N.I.

(a) in subsection (2)(b), for “the issue or renewal of the licence” there shall be substituted “ the issue of the licence or the making of the grant ”;

(b) in subsection (3)(c), for the words “the Secretary of State thinks”, there shall be substituted “ OFCOM think ”;

(c) in subsection (4), for the words “he thinks”, there shall be substituted “ they think ”; and

(d) in subsection (5), at the end there shall be inserted “ or any grant of recognised spectrum access made in accordance with regulations under section 3A ”.

147 For section 2 of that Act there shall be substituted— E+W+S+N.I.

“2 Matters to be taken into account

(1) This section applies where OFCOM exercise any of their powers under section 1 to prescribe sums payable in respect of any description of wireless telegraphy licence or of grant of recognised spectrum access, other than a power to prescribe sums payable where—

(a) a wireless telegraphy licence is varied or revoked at the request or with the consent of the licence holder; or

(b) a grant of recognised spectrum access is varied or revoked at the request or with the consent of the holder of the grant.

(2) OFCOM may, if they think fit in the light (in particular) of the matters to which they are required to have regard under section 154 of the Communications Act 2003, prescribe sums which would be greater than those that would be necessary for the purposes of recovering costs incurred by them in connection with functions under the enactments relating to the management of the radio spectrum.

(3) In this section—

• “the enactments relating to the management of the radio spectrum” has the same meaning as in the Communications Act 2003;

• “prescribe” means prescribe by regulations or determine in accordance with regulations.”

148 (1) Section 4 of that Act (restriction on revocation or variation of licences) shall be amended as follows. E+W+S+N.I.

(2) In subsection (1), for the words “him” and “his” there shall be substituted, respectively, “ them ” and “ their ”.

(3) In subsection (5), for the word “him” there shall be substituted “ them ”.

149 (1) After section 4 of that Act there shall be inserted— E+W+S+N.I.

“4A Recovery of sums payable to OFCOM

Where any sum is required to be paid to OFCOM—

(a) under any provision of this Act,

(b) in pursuance of any provision of regulations under this Act, or

(c) by virtue of any terms or conditions contained by virtue of this Act in a wireless telegraphy licence, or in a grant of recognised spectrum access,

that sum shall be so paid to them as soon as it becomes due in accordance with that provision, or those terms or conditions, and if not paid is to be recoverable by them accordingly.”

(2) This paragraph does not apply to a sum that first became payable before the coming into force of this paragraph.

150 For section 6 of that Act there shall be substituted— E+W+S+N.I.

“6 Regulations

(1) Section 403 of the Communications Act 2003 (procedure for regulations and orders made by OFCOM) applies to every power of OFCOM to make regulations under a provision of this Act.

(2) Subsections (4) to (6) of that section shall not apply in any case in which it appears to OFCOM that by reason of the urgency of the matter it is inexpedient to publish a notice in accordance with subsection (4)(b) of that section.

(3) Subsections (4) to (6) of that section shall not apply in the case of any regulations under section 3 or 3A modifying previous regulations under that section in a case not falling within subsection (2) if it appears to OFCOM—

(a) that the modifications would not adversely affect the interests of any person or otherwise put him in a worse position or, as regards someone else, put him at a disadvantage; and

(b) in so far as the modifications affect a procedure that has already begun, that no person would have acted differently had the modifications come into force before the procedure began.”

151 (1) Section 8 of that Act (interpretation) shall be amended as follows. E+W+S+N.I.

(2) After “In this Act—” there shall be inserted—

““grant of recognised spectrum access” means a grant of recognised spectrum access made under section 159 of the Communications Act 2003;

“OFCOM” means the Office of Communications;”.

(3) After the definition of “wireless telegraphy licence” there shall be inserted— “ and references in this Act to the issue of a wireless telegraphy licence or the making of a grant of recognised spectrum access include references to the issue of such a licence, or the making of a grant of such access, by way of renewal of a previous licence or grant. ”