The Electronic Communications Bill received Royal Assent on 25th
May, as expected, and is now officially in force as an Act of
Parliament. However, only limited parts of the Act will take effect
immediately.
The sections relating to electronic signatures and related
certificates and telecommunications licences will not be brought
into force for a period of two months. They will then be brought
into force by a statutory instrument.
The first part of the Act, dealing with the arrangements for
registering providers of cryptography support services, such as
electronic signature services and confidentiality services, will
only come into force if the government decides it is necessary at
some point over the next five years. If the power to set this up is
not exercised over the next five years, the government loses this
power.
The Act does however allow government Ministers to immediately
begin updating other legislation to allow use of electronic
communication. The Cabinet Office recently identified some of its
priorities for use of this power:-
Authorising companies to communicate their Annual Report and
Accounts to shareholders electronically, accept nominations for
proxies and be incorporated;
Allowing electronic conveyancing, which, the government
believes, could reduce the time needed to buy a house from months
to a couple of weeks;
Allowing electronic authentication of public records for court
proceedings;
Supporting the Financial Services Authority’s intention to
accept applications by electronic means and to allow for electronic
communication of certain notices under the Financial Services and
Markets Bill.
