Communications Act 2003 (Amendment of the Medicines (Monitoring of Advertising) Regulations 1994) Order 2003

• Citation: S.I. 2003/3093
• Sections: 7

Section 1 Citation, commencement and interpretation

(1) This Order may be cited as the Communications Act 2003 (Amendment of the Medicines (Monitoring of Advertising) Regulations 1994) Order 2003 and shall come into force on 29th December 2003.

(2) In this Order “the principal Regulations ” means the Medicines (Monitoring of Advertising) Regulations 1994 .

Section 2 Amendment of regulation 2(1) of the principal Regulations

Regulation 2(1) of the principal Regulations (interpretation) shall be amended as follows—

(a) the following definitions are to be inserted at the appropriate alphabetical place—

(i) “the 2003 Act ” means the Communications Act 2003;

(ii) “licensed service” means a service in respect of which OFCOM have granted a licence under Parts I or III of the 1990 Act;

(iii) “OFCOM” means the Office of Communications established by section 1(1) of the Office of Communications Act 2002 ;

(iv) “S4C” means the television broadcasting service known as Sianel Pedwar Cymru provided by the Welsh Authority pursuant to section 204(2) and (3) of the 2003 Act;

(b) the following definitions are to be omitted—

(i) “the Commission”,

(ii) “complaints authority”, and

(iii) “Radio Authority”.

Section 3 Amendment of regulation 4 of the principal Regulations

Regulation 4(1) of the principal Regulations (complaints about advertisements) shall be amended as follows—

(a) for “a complaints authority” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”; and

(b) “or 10(1)” shall be omitted.

Section 4 Amendment of regulation 5 of the principal Regulations

Regulation 5(1) of the principal Regulations (complaints about certain advertisements) shall be amended as follows—

(a) for “a complaints authority” there shall be substituted “OFCOM”; and

(b) “or 10(1)” shall be omitted.

Section 5 Amendment of regulation 9 of the principal Regulations

For regulation 9 of the principal Regulations (complaints to the Commission and Radio Authority about certain broadcast advertisements) there shall be substituted—

(9)

(1) OFCOM shall consider any complaint made to them that any advertisement included or proposed to be included in a licensed service or S4C may be in breach of any provision of regulation 9 of the Advertising Regulations, unless the complaint appears to them to be frivolous or vexatious.

(2) In exercising the powers conferred on them by these Regulations OFCOM shall have regard to all interests involved and in particular the public interest.

Section 6 Omission of regulation 10 of the principal Regulations

Regulation 10 of the principal Regulations (complaints to the Welsh Authority about certain broadcast advertisements) shall be omitted.

Section 7 Amendment of regulation 11 of the principal Regulations

(1) Regulation 11 of the principal Regulations (control by a complaints authority of certain broadcast advertisements) shall be amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph (1)—

(a) “or 10(1)” shall be omitted;

(b) for “a complaints authority considers” there shall be substituted “OFCOM consider”;

(c) for “a complaints authority may” there shall be substituted “OFCOM may”;

(d) in sub-paragraph (a)—

(i) for “the Commission” there shall be substituted “advertisements included in a licensed service”, and

(ii) for “subsection (6) of section 9 of the 1990 Act” there shall be substituted “subsection (4) of section 325 of the 2003 Act”;

(e) in sub-paragraph (b)—

(i) for “the Radio Authority” there shall be substituted “advertisements included in S4C”, and

(ii) for “subsection (6) of section 93 of the 1990 Act” there shall be substituted “paragraph 14 of Schedule 12 to the 2003 Act”,

(iii) for “that subsection” there shall be substituted “sub-paragraph (a)”; and

(f) sub-paragraph (c) shall be omitted.

(3) In paragraph (2), “(a) or (b)” shall be omitted.

(4) In paragraph (3), for “A complaints authority shall not refuse to exercise its” there shall be substituted “OFCOM shall not refuse to exercise their”.

(5) In paragraph (4), for “A complaints authority shall give reasons in detail for its” there shall be substituted “OFCOM shall give reasons in detail for their”.