Legislation – Online Safety Act 2023

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PART 7OFCOM’s powers and duties in relation to regulated services

CHAPTER 4Information

Information powers and information notices

102Information notices

(1)

A notice given under section 100(1) or F1101(C1) or (1) is referred to in this Act as an information notice.

(2)

An information notice may require information in any form (including in electronic form).

(3)

An information notice F2under section 100(1) or 101(1) must—

(a)

specify or describe the information to be provided,

(b)

specify why OFCOM require the information,

(c)

specify the form and manner in which it must be provided, F3…

F4(ca)

specify when the information must be provided (which may be on or by a specified date, within a specified period, or at specified intervals), and

(d)

contain information about the consequences of not complying with the notice.

F5(4)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(5)

An information notice requiring a person to take steps of a kind mentioned in section 100(3) must give the person at least seven days’ notice before the steps are required to be taken.

F6(5A)

An information notice under section 101(C1) must—

(a)

specify or describe the information to be retained,

(b)

specify why OFCOM require the information to be retained,

(c)

require the information to be retained for the period of one year beginning with the date of the notice,

(d)

require the person to whom the notice is given—

(i)

if the child to whom the notice relates used the service in question, to notify OFCOM by a specified date of steps taken to ensure the retention of information;

(ii)

if the child did not use the service, or the person does not hold any information of the kind required, to notify OFCOM of that fact by a specified date, and

(e)

contain information about the consequences of not complying with the notice.

(5B)

If OFCOM give an information notice to a person under section 101(C1), they may, in response to information received from the investigating authority, extend the period for which the person is required to retain information by a maximum period of six months.

(5C)

The power conferred by subsection (5B) is exercisable—

(a)

by giving the person a notice varying the notice under section 101(C1) and stating the further period for which information must be retained and the reason for the extension;

(b)

any number of times.

(6)

An information notice may specify a place at which, and a person to whom, information is to be provided.

(7)

A person to whom a document is produced in response to an information notice may—

(a)

take copies of, or extracts from, the document;

(b)

require the person producing the document, or a person who is or was an officer of that person, or (in the case of a partnership) a person who is or was a partner, to give an explanation of it.

(8)

A person to whom an information notice is given has a duty—

(a)

to act in accordance with the requirements of the notice, and

(b)

to ensure that the information provided is accurate in all material respects.

(9)

OFCOM may cancel an information notice by notice to the person to whom it was given.

F7(9A)

OFCOM must cancel an information notice under section 101(C1) by notice to the person to whom it was given if advised by the investigating authority that the information in question no longer needs to be retained.

(10)

In this section—

“information” includes documents, and any reference to providing information includes a reference to producing a document;

F8“the investigating authority” has the same meaning as in section 101;

“officer”, in relation to an entity, includes a director, a manager, an associate, a secretary or, where the affairs of the entity are managed by its members, a member.

(11)

In relation to information recorded otherwise than in a legible form, references in this section to producing a document are to producing a copy of the information—

(a)

in a legible form, or

(b)

in a form from which it can readily be produced in a legible form.