King's Speech 2023

This morning, 07 November 2023, King Charles III gave his first speech as monarch in the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament, the formal ceremony marking the commencement of the new (and last) 2023-24 session of the current Parliament. The last time a King opened Parliament was when King Charles’ grandfather, King George VI gave the King’s Speech on 31 October 1950 (the following year the speech was delivered at His Majesty’s command by Lords Commissioners appointed under the Great Seal, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II took the throne in 1952).

Regrettably, the words of the King’s Speech in 1950, “the world is once more troubled with the menace of war”, echo still. Perhaps bizarrely, that is not the only commonality, with the “the reform of the law relating to leaseholds” featuring in both speeches.

For those with an interest in data protection, privacy, freedom of expression, online safety, cyber security, digital markets regulation and/or artificial intelligence, the King’s Speech included a number of matters of interest:

Data Protection & Digital Information (No.2) Bill

One of a number of Bills subject to carry over motions from the previous (2022-23) session of Parliament, the Government’s second crack at post-Brexit data protection law reform will be pursued. The Bill reached Report stage in the House of Commons.

Concerns have already been raised that the Bill reduces data subject rights and protections, and it appears that they could be further weakened as the new introduction to the Bill in the King’s Speech stated that it will “encourage innovation in technologies such as machine learning”. We have highlighted some of the data protection issues in the development of AI in Part II of our AI Bootcamp.

You can keep up to date on the progress of the Bill via our Data Protection Reform Resources page.

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill

Another Bill subject to a carry over motion from the previous (2022-23) session of Parliament, the Bill had reached Report stage in the Commons. The Bill would grant additional powers to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in relation to undertakings carrying out digital activities linked to the UK deemed to have strategic market status (‘SMS’) and subject to a turnover threshold.

Updates on digital markets regulation are captured in ‘On Hand’, our monthly digital newsletter.

Media Bill

A draft Media Bill was subjected to pre-legislative scrutiny by the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

As initially published, as well as making provision for the reform of the regulation of public service broadcasting (recognizing the competition broadcasters face from video-on-demand – VOD – platforms), and on-demand programme service (ODPS) regulation, the Bill would repeal the provisions of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 which had not been commenced but would have served to require publishers of news-related material who were not members of approved regulators (most of the mainstream press) to be liable for the costs of claims brought against them (even where the claim was successfully defeated) unless the claim could not have been resolved using an approved regulator’s arbitration scheme or it is was just and equitable in all the circumstances of the case to make a different award of costs or to make no award of costs. (s.40 Crime and Courts Act 2013).

The Committee rejected some of the government’s proposals in the Bill, in particular the removal of entire genres from the public service remit and, recommended stronger regulatory powers for Ofcom. The Committee called for even stronger measures to ensure Listed Events, such as the FA Cup Final and Wimbledon Championships, are shown on public service broadcasters (PSBs) and even greater prominence for PSBs in electronic programme guides. Stronger regulation of VOD platforms – with the Bill applying to VOD platforms of all sizes – and a revised approach to the regulation and operation of Channel 4 were also called for.

In light of the government’s withdrawal of the Bill of Rights, we had recommended utilising the draft Media Bill as a vehicle to pass the measures which would have served to strengthen freedom of speech, including the protections afforded to journalists against court orders to reveal their confidential sources, a strengthened threshold in connection with the grant of injunctive relief, and a requirement for great weight to be given to the protection of freedom of speech. In addition, it could also offer a vehicle to expand upon the protections introduced in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 against so-called Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs).

Updates on the Media Bill will be published on our Broadcasting Regulation Resources page. 

Criminal Justice Bill

A new Criminal Justice Bill will incorporate new police powers including “to enter a premises without a warrant to seize stolen goods, such as phones, based off GPS location tracking technology”. The scope, exclusions and protections of any such provision will be critical to ensuring that privacy and other fundamental rights are protected, including to ensure that, for example, existing protections for journalists against the seizure of journalistic material are not adversely affected.

Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill

Building on the government’s success in passing s.121 Online Safety Act 2023, the contentious provisions which could require the breaking of end-to-end encryption to identify terrorism and child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) content, the government confirmed that it would reform investigatory powers legislation by introducing the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill. This would grant the power through a notice regime to object to security and privacy features proposed by technology companies. The Bill would also relax regulation of the use by the intelligence agencies of “less sensitive data” as part of the bulk personal dataset regime, update the conditions for the use of Internet Connections Records and, make the warrantry regime “more resilient”, which presumably means reducing restrictions.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

In July 2023 the government signed its Accession Protocol to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a Free Trade Agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

The government confirmed it will bring forward the Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific

Partnership) Bill, “to promote trade and investment with economies in the fastest growing region in the world”.

The Agreement is intended to open up data flows between member countries, and we can therefore expect secondary regulation in due course making data protection regulations in relation to international transfers of personal data. We maintain an updated map and list of regulations authorising transfers of personal data outside the UK, as well as a version covering transfers of personal data outside the EEA.

Artificial Intelligence

The government had stated in its AI White Paper  ‘A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation’, that it would avoid targeting specific technologies to avoid a “heavy-handed and rigid approach” which could “stifle innovation” and slow adoption, instead leveraging the expertise of existing regulators. Perhaps prompted by its AI Safety Summit, it appears that the government has had a change of heart and that it intends to introduce "new legal frameworks to support the safe commercial development" of potentially revolutionary technologies, and that these are likely to be incorporated into the Data Protection & Digital Information (No.2) Bill by way of amendments. 

You can follow developments on AI regulation via our AI Resources page.