The Enterprise Act 2002 (Definition of Newspaper) Order 2025

Amendment to section 44 of the Enterprise Act 2002

2.—(1) Section 44 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (investigation and report by CMA) is amended as follows.

(2) For subsection (10) substitute—

“(10) In this Part, “newspaper” means a publication which—

(a) consists of, or includes, news-related material which is subject to editorial control;

(b) is published on any periodic basis; and

(c) is connected with the United Kingdom.

(10A) For the purposes of subsection (10)—

(a) “news-related material” means—

(i) news or information about current affairs; or

(ii) opinion about matters relating to the news or current affairs;

(b) news-related material contained in a publication is subject to editorial control if the publisher of the publication has editorial or equivalent responsibility for—

(i) the content of the material (which may include commissioning it);

(ii) how the material is presented; and

(iii) the decision to first publish the material;

(c) a publication is not to be treated as consisting of, or including, news-related material if the news-related material contained in the publication—

(i) is included only incidentally to the main content of the publication; or

(ii) relates wholly to a particular pastime, hobby, trade, business, industry or profession;

(d) “publication” means a publication which is—

(i) online; or

(ii) in hard copy,

and references to “publish” or a “publisher” are to be construed accordingly;

(e) a reference to a publication being published on any periodic basis includes, in relation to an online publication, a reference to it being updated on any periodic or other recurring basis;

(f) a publication is connected with the United Kingdom if—

(i) the majority of its readership is in the United Kingdom;

(ii) the majority of editorial decisions about the publication are taken in the United Kingdom; or

(iii) the registered or principal office of the publisher of the publication is in the United Kingdom.”.