PART 2

ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF THE PLATFORM

The Platform operator
3
The Electoral Management Board established under section 20E of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru etc. Act 2013 is specified as the platform operator.

Functions of the platform operator
4
1
The platform operator must establish and operate the platform in accordance with these Regulations.
2
In carrying out its functions under paragraph (1), the platform operator must—
a
make arrangements to appoint a third party to create and build an electronic facility (such as an online system);
b
ensure the platform provides, hosts and publishes information in a politically neutral manner about—
i
specified elections,
ii
candidates, and
iii
registered political parties standing in elections to Senedd Cymru;
c
maintain the platform by keeping the published information up-to-date;
d
ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that appropriate security measures are in place to protect the platform’s electronic facilities and content from unauthorised access, interference, or use;
e
deliver a system to check that election addresses and candidate statements, submitted to the platform for publication, comply with the relevant requirements prior to them being published on the platform.

Guidance
5
1
The platform operator must provide guidance about the operation of the platform.
2
The guidance must include information about the following—
a
the service provided by the platform and the mechanisms used to provide that service;
b
the documents that electoral administrators may send to the platform operator for publication on the platform;
c
the required format of any documents that are submitted to the platform operator;
d
the means by which electoral administrators may publish information referred to in regulation 6 which would assist the platform operator to obtain and publish that information on the platform;
e
how election addresses and candidate statements may be produced and sent to the platform operator.
3
The guidance may include any other matter that will assist the platform operator in carrying out its functions in relation to the operation of the platform.
4
The guidance must be published on the platform by the platform operator.
2013 anaw 4. Section 20E was inserted by section 1(2) of the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024. The short title of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru etc. Act 2013 was changed to that title from the Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013 by section 11 of the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024 (asc 4).