UK law
Online Safety Act 2023 (Commencement No. 6) Regulations 2025 made to repeal video sharing regime
The Online Safety Act 2023 (Commencement No. 6) Regulations 2025 SI 2025/888 have been made. They are the sixth commencement regulations made under the Online Safety Act 2023. They bring into force section 210 of the 2023 Act, which repeals the video-sharing platform regulatory regime under Part 4B of the Communications Act 2003. Video sharing services known as “pre-existing Part 4B services” (defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 17 to the 2023 Act) have been regulated under both the 2003 Act and the 2023 Act since entering a transition period on 10 January 2024. Detailed transitional arrangements are provided for in Schedule 17 to the 2023 Act. The Regulations mark the end of the transition period. From 25th July 2025, pre-existing Part 4B services are regulated wholly under the 2023 Act and will be subject to each of the relevant duties of care specified in Part 3 of the 2023 Act.
Ofcom publishes guidance on transparency reporting under Online Safety Act 2023
Ofcom has published its transparency statement and final transparency reporting guidance. This statement, together with its future codes and guidance on additional duties for providers of categorised services, supports the implementation of the third phase of the online safety regime. The guidance explains when and how Ofcom will exercise its transparency powers. It is designed to provide stakeholders with information about how the transparency reporting process under the online safety regime will work in practice, including the factors Ofcom will consider when deciding what information providers must publish in their reports, how it will produce its own Ofcom transparency reports and how it will engage with stakeholders throughout the process.
Ofcom consults on qualifying worldwide revenue – online safety fees and penalties
Ofcom is consulting on technical guidance relating to online safety fees, which will be payable by companies in scope of the Online Safety Act with the highest “qualifying worldwide revenues” (QWR). The Act states that firms’ QWR is used to determine the level of fees they must pay to Ofcom for carrying out its regulatory work. QWR is also to be used as the basis for calculating the maximum fine that can be imposed on a company for breaching online safety rules. The consultation, which follows its recent decision on how it will set fees under the Act, is on guidance that will help companies calculate what their QWR is in a just and reasonable way. The consultation ends on 10 September 2025. In addition, later this year, following a consultation, Ofcom will publish Fees Notification Guidance that will cover the practicalities of how firms should notify Ofcom of their liability for fees and provide evidence of their QWR. Separately, it will also consult on a Fees Statement of Charging Principles that will set out practical details on fee calculations and payment.
Ofcom consults on tackling scam calls from abroad
Ofcom is consulting on amending its guidance to set out how it expects providers to process calls from abroad that appear to come from UK mobile (+447) numbers. It says that protecting consumers from the harms caused by scam phone calls is a priority. One common tactic that scammers use to try to get victims to engage with their calls is to “spoof” phone numbers, to disguise the origin of the call and to appear more trustworthy. This increases the likelihood that potential victims will answer the call. The scammer can then try to manipulate the recipient into giving away personal details, such as passwords or one-time codes, or to make payments. Ofcom has already implemented measures to make it more difficult for scammers to reach people and businesses with calls that spoof UK landline numbers. These include setting out the steps operators are expected to take to identify calls from abroad that are spoofing UK landline numbers and to block them. However, this does not currently address the problem of inbound international calls that spoof UK mobile (+447) numbers. Therefore, Ofcom is proposing changes to its guidance, on how providers should process calls from abroad that appear to present a UK mobile number, to aim to protect people and businesses from spoofing. The consultation ends on 13 October 2025.
UK government consults on self-driving vehicles law
The Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024 will introduce the automated passenger services (APS) permitting scheme, a targeted regulatory framework for automated passenger services. APS permits have been developed as a bespoke route for regulating passenger services that either operate without a human driver or that are trialling services that might be used without a human driver. The new scheme is intended to be flexible and avoid the various challenges of applying existing legislation. Introducing this scheme is intended to provide greater regulatory confidence for businesses to deploy services and build an understanding of viable commercial models. The consultation ends on 28 September 2025.
Court of Appeal allows appeal under Electronic Communications Code
The Digital Economy Act 2017 inserted the Electronic Communications Code into the Communications Act 2003 as schedule 3A. Under Part 2 of the Code an “occupier” of land may enter into an agreement to confer on an “operator” a “code right” in relation to “electronic communications apparatus” for the statutory purposes, that is, for providing that operator’s network or an infrastructure system. Code rights may include the installation of electronic communications apparatus on land, as well as works for the maintenance, operation or sharing of electronic communications apparatus. Under Part 4 of the Code the court may impose an agreement by which an occupier confers a code right on an operator. Part 5 of the Code deals with the termination and modification of “code agreements”. In On Tower UK Ltd v British Telecommunications Plc [2025] EWCA Civ 844, the Court of Appeal unanimously allowed an appeal by On Tower from the Upper Tribunal and ruled that a site provider who sought to rely on a contractual break clause to end a Code agreement under paragraph 31 of the Code had to have exercised the break clause. The Court said that it was not sufficient that the break right could be exercised, a party had to exercise it before serving any termination notice under paragraph 31 of the Code.
FTT upholds ICO decision to fine claims management company
In Quick Tax Claims Ltd v Information Commissioner [2025] UKFTT 869, the UK First-tier Tribunal rejected an appeal by a claims management company against a Monetary Penalty Notice (MPN) of £120,000 issued by the Information Commissioner for breaches of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR). The breaches involved the transmission of 7,863,547 unsolicited SMS marketing messages, contrary to Regulations 22 and 23 of PECR. In summary, the ICO took into account appropriate factors in exercising its discretion to issue a MPN of £120,000. It considered its statutory guidance. It was appropriate not to take into account what the Appellant asserts as mitigating factors. It was also appropriate not to take into account the Appellant’s assertion that the MPN would cause financial hardship, particularly given the lack of evidence presented by the Appellant. Accordingly, the Tribunal was satisfied that the ICO struck a fair balance between means and ends. It said that the MPN was in accordance with the law and that the ICO should not have exercised its discretion differently.
EU law
European Commission publishes template for General-Purpose AI model providers
The European Commission has published a template to help General-Purpose AI providers summarise the content used to train their model. General-purpose AI models are trained with large quantities of data but there is only limited information available regarding the origin of this data. The public summary will provide a comprehensive overview of the data used to train a model, list main data collections and explain other sources used. The template will also assist parties with legitimate interests, such as copyright holders, in exercising their rights under EU law.
