Statutory Instruments
2017 No. 1284
Electronic Communications
The Electronic Communications Code (Jurisdiction) Regulations 2017
Made
14th December 2017
Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1(1)
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 402(3) of, and paragraphs 95(1) to (4) of Schedule 3A to, the Communications Act 2003( 1 ), makes the following Regulations.
The Secretary of State has consulted the Scottish Ministers in accordance with paragraph 95(5)(a) of Schedule 3A to that Act.
A draft of these Regulations was laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament in accordance with section 402(2A) of that Act( 2 ).
Citation, commencement and extent I1
1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Electronic Communications Code (Jurisdiction) Regulations 2017 and come into force on the day that section 4 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Digital Economy Act 2017 come fully into force.
(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and to Scotland.
Interpretation I2
2. —(1) In these Regulations—
“the code” means the electronic communications code set out in Schedule 3A to the Communications Act 2003;
“relevant proceedings” means proceedings under any of the following provisions of the code—
Parts 4, 5, 6, 12 or 13, or
paragraph 53.
Conferral of jurisdiction on tribunals I3
3. Subject to regulation 4, the functions conferred by the code on the court( 3 ) are also exercisable by the following tribunals—
(a) in relation to England, the First-tier Tribunal (in a case where relevant proceedings are transferred to it by the Upper Tribunal),
(b) in relation to England and Wales, the Upper Tribunal, and
(c) in relation to Scotland, the Lands Tribunal for Scotland,
and any provision of the code which confers a function on the court is to be read as if the reference to the court included references to these tribunals.
Restriction on jurisdiction for commencement of relevant proceedings I4
4.Relevant proceedings must be commenced—
(a) in relation to England and Wales, in the Upper Tribunal, or
(b) in relation to Scotland, the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.
Transfer of relevant proceedings to the court I5
5. —(1) A tribunal referred to in regulation 3 may transfer relevant proceedings to—
(a) in relation to England or Wales, the county court, or
(b) in relation to Scotland the sheriff court,
if that tribunal considers the court to be a more appropriate forum for the determination of those proceedings.
(2) A tribunal may transfer proceedings in accordance with paragraph (1) of its own motion or on the application of a party to those proceedings.
Matthew Hancock
Minister of State
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
14th December 2017
2003 c. 21 . Schedule 3A was inserted by Schedule 1 to the Digital Economy Act 2017 (c. 30) .
Section 402(2A) was inserted by paragraph 47(3) of Schedule 3 to the Digital Economy Act 2017.
See paragraph 94(1) of Schedule 3A to the Communications Act 2003 for the definition of “the court”.