Overview

Following the announcement of a General Election in the UK next month, we provide an outline of what the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats have to say about media and electronic communications regulation and we describe the practical implications for business.

Policy debate on the regulation of media and communications in the run-up to the General Election has largely focused on the proposals outlined by the Government in Digital Britain, the White Paper published in June 2009.

The Labour Government has continued with steps to implement the White Paper’s proposals, including a number of follow-on consultations to determine the detail of how these will come into effect and the introduction of the Digital Economy Bill in November 2009.

Although there are significant areas of agreement on the objectives put forward in the White Paper, the Conservatives have criticised a number of the Labour Government’s proposals.

This briefing examines the policies of the two major parties in key areas of regulatory law and policy in the media and electronic communications sectors, including: broadband infrastructure; telecommunications; broadcasting; media ownership rules; the role of the sector regulator, Ofcom; and internet piracy.

This note is part of The Election Briefing by Norton Rose, which covers corporate governance, takeovers policy and company law; climate change and energy; competition (antitrust) and economic regulation; employment and equality; environment; financial services regulation; Islamic finance; media and electronic communications regulation; pensions; PFI and PPP; planning and local government; rail and tax.

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