Legal background
Part 1: Product Security
- This Act includes a power to specify security requirements relating to relevant connectable products and creates obligations for economic actors such as manufacturers, importers and distributors in respect of compliance with those security requirements. The enforcement of these obligations will use powers provided for in Chapter 3, as well as existing powers in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 ("the 2015 Act"). The 2015 Act consolidates enforcers’ powers as listed in Schedule 5 to investigate potential breaches of consumer law.
Part 2: Telecommunications Infrastructure
- The Code is contained in Schedule 3A to the Communications Act 2003 ("the 2003 Act"), as inserted by the Digital Economy Act 2017 ("the 2017 Act"). The Code was previously found in the Telecommunications Act 1984 (see Schedule 2 to that Act). The 2017 Act replaces that iteration with a new version of the Code (see Schedule 1 to the 2017 Act), which was inserted into the 2003 Act (as Schedule 3A to that Act).
- Part 16 of the Code includes provisions relating to enforcement and dispute resolution and, at paragraph 94, provides that as a default position for the purposes of the Code, any reference to "the court" means the county court in England and Wales; the sheriff court in Scotland; and the county court in Northern Ireland. However, paragraph 95 confers a power on the Secretary of State to permit functions of "the court" to be exercised by certain Tribunals. In exercise of this power, the Electronic Communications Code (Jurisdiction) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/1284) ("the 2017 Regulations") confer jurisdiction on the Upper Tribunal in relation to England and Wales, and on the Lands Tribunal for Scotland in relation to Scotland. The 2017 Regulations also currently confer jurisdiction on the First-tier Tribunal in relation to England, in a case where relevant proceedings are transferred to it by the Upper Tribunal). References to "the court" or "a court" in these Notes are to be taken to refer to those tribunals and courts unless specified otherwise. The 2017 Regulations do not extend to Northern Ireland. Accordingly, all functions conferred by the Code on a court in Northern Ireland remain exercisable in Northern Ireland only by a county court. References to "the court" or "a court" in these Notes are therefore to be construed accordingly as regards Northern Ireland, unless otherwise specified.
