S. 214 in force at Royal Assent, see s. 240(z2)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26Online Safety Act 2023enStatute Law Database2024-08-23Expert Participation2023-10-26PART 11Supplementary and generalRepeals and amendments
214Offences regarding indecent photographs of children: OFCOM defenceEngland and Wales1

Section 1B of the Protection of Children Act 1978 (defence to offence relating to indecent photographs of children) is amended in accordance with subsections (2) and (3).

2

In subsection (1)—

a

for “he”, in each place, substitute “the defendant”;

b

for “him”, in each place, substitute “the defendant”;

c

omit “or” at the end of paragraph (b);

d

at the end of paragraph (c) insert

, or

d

the defendant—

i

was at the time of the offence charged a member of OFCOM, employed or engaged by OFCOM, or assisting OFCOM in the exercise of any of their online safety functions (within the meaning of section 235 of the Online Safety Act 2023), and

ii

made the photograph or pseudo-photograph for the purposes of OFCOM’s exercise of any of those functions.

3

After subsection (2) insert—

3

In this section “OFCOM” means the Office of Communications.

Scotland4

Section 52 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (indecent photographs of children) is amended in accordance with subsections (5) and (6).

5

After subsection (4) insert—

4A

Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (1)(a) of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child, it shall be a defence for the person to prove that—

a

at the time of the offence charged, the person was a member of OFCOM, employed or engaged by OFCOM, or assisting OFCOM in the exercise of any of their online safety functions (within the meaning of section 235 of the Online Safety Act 2023), and

b

the person made the photograph or pseudo-photograph for the purposes of OFCOM’s exercise of any of those functions.

6

In subsection (8), after paragraph (d) insert—

e

OFCOM” means the Office of Communications.

Northern Ireland7

Article 3A of the Protection of Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (S.I. 1978/1047 (N.I. 17)) (defence to offence relating to indecent photographs of children) is amended in accordance with subsections (8) and (9).

8

In paragraph (1)—

a

for “he”, in each place, substitute “the defendant”;

b

for “him”, in each place, substitute “the defendant”;

c

omit “or” at the end of sub-paragraph (b);

d

at the end of sub-paragraph (c) insert

, or

d

the defendant—

i

was at the time of the offence charged a member of OFCOM, employed or engaged by OFCOM, or assisting OFCOM in the exercise of any of their online safety functions (within the meaning of section 235 of the Online Safety Act 2023), and

ii

made the photograph or pseudo-photograph for the purposes of OFCOM’s exercise of any of those functions.

9

After paragraph (2) insert—

3

In this Article “OFCOM” means the Office of Communications.

This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
<akomaNtoso xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/ns/akn/3.0" xsi:schemaLocation="http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/ns/akn/3.0 http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/akn-core/v1.0/cos01/part2-specs/schemas/akomantoso30.xsd">
<portion includedIn="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2023/50">
<meta>
<identification source="#source">
<FRBRWork>
<FRBRthis value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2023/50"/>
<FRBRuri value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2023/50"/>
<FRBRdate date="2023-10-26" name="enacted"/>
<FRBRauthor href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/legislature/UnitedKingdomParliament"/>
<FRBRcountry value="GB-UKM"/>
<FRBRnumber value="50"/>
<FRBRname value="2023 c. 50"/>
<FRBRprescriptive value="true"/>
</FRBRWork>
<FRBRExpression>
<FRBRthis value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26"/>
<FRBRuri value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/2023-10-26"/>
<FRBRdate date="2023-10-26" name="validFrom"/>
<FRBRauthor href="#source"/>
<FRBRlanguage language="eng"/>
</FRBRExpression>
<FRBRManifestation>
<FRBRthis value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.akn"/>
<FRBRuri value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/2023-10-26/data.akn"/>
<FRBRdate date="2024-11-17Z" name="transform"/>
<FRBRauthor href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk"/>
<FRBRformat value="application/akn+xml"/>
</FRBRManifestation>
</identification>
<lifecycle source="#source">
<eventRef date="2023-10-26" type="generation" eId="enacted-date" source="#source"/>
<eventRef date="2023-10-26" eId="effective-date-1" source="#source"/>
<eventRef date="2023-11-22" eId="effective-date-2" source="#source"/>
<eventRef date="2024-01-10" eId="effective-date-3" source="#source"/>
</lifecycle>
<analysis source="#source">
<restrictions source="#source">
<restriction refersTo="#e+w+s+ni" type="jurisdiction"/>
<restriction href="#body" refersTo="#e+w+s+ni" type="jurisdiction"/>
<restriction href="#section-214" refersTo="#e+w+s+ni" type="jurisdiction"/>
<restriction href="#part-11" refersTo="#e+w+s+ni" type="jurisdiction"/>
<restriction href="#part-11-crossheading-repeals-and-amendments" refersTo="#e+w+s+ni" type="jurisdiction"/>
</restrictions>
</analysis>
<temporalData source="#source">
<temporalGroup eId="period1">
<timeInterval start="#effective-date-1" refersTo="#period-concept1"/>
</temporalGroup>
<temporalGroup eId="period2">
<timeInterval start="#effective-date-1" end="#effective-date-2" refersTo="#period-concept2"/>
</temporalGroup>
<temporalGroup eId="period3">
<timeInterval start="#effective-date-1" end="#effective-date-3" refersTo="#period-concept3"/>
</temporalGroup>
</temporalData>
<references source="#source">
<TLCOrganization eId="source" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/publisher/StatuteLawDatabase" showAs="Statute Law Database"/>
<TLCLocation eId="e+w+s+ni" href="/ontology/jurisdictions/uk.EnglandWalesScotlandNorthernIreland" showAs="England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland"/>
<TLCTerm eId="term-ofcom" href="/ontology/term/uk.ofcom" showAs="OFCOM"/>
<TLCConcept eId="period-concept1" href="/ontology/time/2023.10.26" showAs="since 2023-10-26"/>
<TLCConcept eId="period-concept2" href="/ontology/time/2023.10.26-2023.11.22" showAs="from 2023-10-26 until 2023-11-22"/>
<TLCConcept eId="period-concept3" href="/ontology/time/2023.10.26-2024.01.10" showAs="from 2023-10-26 until 2024-01-10"/>
</references>
<notes source="#source">
<note class="commentary I" eId="key-1de6838e9fa80b352e7288fd35204861">
<p>
S. 214 in force at Royal Assent, see
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2023/50/section/240/z2">s. 240(z2)</ref>
</p>
</note>
</notes>
<proprietary xmlns:ukl="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/legislation" xmlns:ukm="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/metadata" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" source="#source">
<ukl:RestrictStartDate value="2023-10-26"/>
<ukl:RestrictEndDate value="2023-11-22"/>
<dc:identifier>http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26</dc:identifier>
<dc:title>Online Safety Act 2023</dc:title>
<dc:language>en</dc:language>
<dc:publisher>Statute Law Database</dc:publisher>
<dc:modified>2024-08-23</dc:modified>
<dc:contributor>Expert Participation</dc:contributor>
<dct:valid>2023-10-26</dct:valid>
<atom:link rel="self" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.xml" type="application/xml"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/resources" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/resources" title="More Resources"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/notes" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/notes" title="Explanatory Notes"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/notes/toc" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/notes/contents" title="Explanatory Notes Table of Contents"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/act" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/2023-10-26" title="whole act"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/introduction" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/introduction/2023-10-26" title="introduction"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/body" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/body/2023-10-26" title="body"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/schedules" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/schedules/2023-10-26" title="schedules"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/rdf+xml" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.rdf" title="RDF/XML"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/akn+xml" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.akn" title="AKN"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/xhtml+xml" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.xht" title="HTML snippet"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.htm" title="Website (XHTML) Default View"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="text/csv" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.csv" title="CSV"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/pdf" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.pdf" title="PDF"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/akn+xhtml" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/2023-10-26/data.html" title="HTML5 snippet"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/tableOfContents" hreflang="en" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/contents/2023-10-26" title="Table of Contents"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasVersion" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214/enacted" title="enacted"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasVersion" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/214" title="current"/>
<atom:link rel="up" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/2023-10-26" title="Entire legislation"/>
<atom:link rel="prev" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/213/2023-10-26" title="Provision; Section 213"/>
<atom:link rel="prevInForce" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/212/2023-10-26" title="Provision; Section 212"/>
<atom:link rel="next" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/215/2023-10-26" title="Provision; Section 215"/>
<atom:link rel="nextInForce" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/219/2023-10-26" title="Provision; Section 219"/>
<ukm:PrimaryMetadata>
<ukm:DocumentClassification>
<ukm:DocumentCategory Value="primary"/>
<ukm:DocumentMainType Value="UnitedKingdomPublicGeneralAct"/>
<ukm:DocumentStatus Value="revised"/>
</ukm:DocumentClassification>
<ukm:Year Value="2023"/>
<ukm:Number Value="50"/>
<ukm:EnactmentDate Date="2023-10-26"/>
<ukm:ISBN Value="9780105702368"/>
</ukm:PrimaryMetadata>
<ukm:Notes>
<ukm:Note IdURI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2023/50/notes"/>
<ukm:Alternatives>
<ukm:Alternative URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/pdfs/ukpgaen_20230050_en.pdf" Date="2023-11-24" Title="Explanatory Note" Size="2247892"/>
</ukm:Alternatives>
</ukm:Notes>
<ukm:CorrectionSlips>
<ukm:CorrectionSlip URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/pdfs/ukpgacs_20230050_en_001.pdf" Date="2024-07-02" Title="Correction slip" Size="109333"/>
</ukm:CorrectionSlips>
<ukm:Alternatives>
<ukm:Alternative URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/pdfs/ukpga_20230050_en.pdf" Date="2023-10-31" Size="1598112" Print="true"/>
</ukm:Alternatives>
<ukm:Statistics>
<ukm:TotalParagraphs Value="581"/>
<ukm:BodyParagraphs Value="247"/>
<ukm:ScheduleParagraphs Value="334"/>
<ukm:AttachmentParagraphs Value="0"/>
<ukm:TotalImages Value="1"/>
</ukm:Statistics>
</proprietary>
</meta>
<portionBody eId="body" period="#period1">
<part eId="part-11" period="#period3">
<num>PART 11</num>
<heading>Supplementary and general</heading>
<hcontainer name="crossheading" eId="part-11-crossheading-repeals-and-amendments" period="#period3">
<heading>Repeals and amendments</heading>
<section eId="section-214" period="#period1">
<num>
<noteRef href="#key-1de6838e9fa80b352e7288fd35204861" marker="I1" class="commentary I"/>
214
</num>
<heading>Offences regarding indecent photographs of children: OFCOM defence</heading>
<hcontainer name="P2group" eId="d4e84">
<heading>England and Wales</heading>
<subsection eId="section-214-1">
<num>1</num>
<content>
<p>Section 1B of the Protection of Children Act 1978 (defence to offence relating to indecent photographs of children) is amended in accordance with subsections (2) and (3).</p>
</content>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-214-2">
<num>2</num>
<intro>
<p>In subsection (1)—</p>
</intro>
<paragraph eId="section-214-2-a">
<num>a</num>
<content>
<p>
for “he”, in each place, substitute
<mod>
<quotedText>“the defendant”</quotedText>
</mod>
;
</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
<paragraph eId="section-214-2-b">
<num>b</num>
<content>
<p>
for “him”, in each place, substitute
<mod>
<quotedText>“the defendant”</quotedText>
</mod>
;
</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
<paragraph eId="section-214-2-c">
<num>c</num>
<content>
<p>omit “or” at the end of paragraph (b);</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
<paragraph eId="section-214-2-d">
<num>d</num>
<content>
<p>at the end of paragraph (c) insert </p>
<p class="BlockAmendment">
<mod>
<quotedStructure class="primary unknown main double" startQuote="" endQuote="">
<p class="run-on">, or</p>
<paragraph eId="d4e132">
<num>d</num>
<intro>
<p>the defendant—</p>
</intro>
<subparagraph eId="d4e138">
<num>i</num>
<content>
<p>was at the time of the offence charged a member of OFCOM, employed or engaged by OFCOM, or assisting OFCOM in the exercise of any of their online safety functions (within the meaning of section 235 of the Online Safety Act 2023), and</p>
</content>
</subparagraph>
<subparagraph eId="d4e144">
<num>ii</num>
<content>
<p>made the photograph or pseudo-photograph for the purposes of OFCOM’s exercise of any of those functions.</p>
</content>
</subparagraph>
</paragraph>
</quotedStructure>
</mod>
</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-214-3">
<num>3</num>
<content>
<p>After subsection (2) insert—</p>
<p class="BlockAmendment">
<mod>
<quotedStructure class="primary unknown main double" startQuote="" endQuote="">
<subsection eId="d4e157">
<num>3</num>
<content>
<p>
In this section “
<term refersTo="#term-ofcom">OFCOM</term>
” means the Office of Communications.
</p>
</content>
</subsection>
</quotedStructure>
</mod>
</p>
</content>
</subsection>
</hcontainer>
<hcontainer name="P2group" eId="d4e166">
<heading>Scotland</heading>
<subsection eId="section-214-4">
<num>4</num>
<content>
<p>Section 52 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (indecent photographs of children) is amended in accordance with subsections (5) and (6).</p>
</content>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-214-5">
<num>5</num>
<content>
<p>After subsection (4) insert—</p>
<p class="BlockAmendment">
<mod>
<quotedStructure class="primary unknown main double" startQuote="" endQuote="">
<subsection eId="d4e182">
<num>4A</num>
<intro>
<p>Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (1)(a) of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child, it shall be a defence for the person to prove that—</p>
</intro>
<paragraph eId="d4e188">
<num>a</num>
<content>
<p>at the time of the offence charged, the person was a member of OFCOM, employed or engaged by OFCOM, or assisting OFCOM in the exercise of any of their online safety functions (within the meaning of section 235 of the Online Safety Act 2023), and</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
<paragraph eId="d4e194">
<num>b</num>
<content>
<p>the person made the photograph or pseudo-photograph for the purposes of OFCOM’s exercise of any of those functions.</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
</subsection>
</quotedStructure>
</mod>
</p>
</content>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-214-6">
<num>6</num>
<content>
<p>In subsection (8), after paragraph (d) insert—</p>
<p class="BlockAmendment">
<mod>
<quotedStructure class="primary unknown main double" startQuote="" endQuote="">
<paragraph eId="d4e207">
<num>e</num>
<content>
<p>
<term refersTo="#term-ofcom">OFCOM</term>
” means the Office of Communications.
</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
</quotedStructure>
</mod>
</p>
</content>
</subsection>
</hcontainer>
<hcontainer name="P2group" eId="d4e216">
<heading>Northern Ireland</heading>
<subsection eId="section-214-7">
<num>7</num>
<content>
<p>
Article 3A of the Protection of Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/nisi/1978/1047">S.I. 1978/1047 (N.I. 17)</ref>
) (defence to offence relating to indecent photographs of children) is amended in accordance with subsections (8) and (9).
</p>
</content>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-214-8">
<num>8</num>
<intro>
<p>In paragraph (1)—</p>
</intro>
<paragraph eId="section-214-8-a">
<num>a</num>
<content>
<p>
for “he”, in each place, substitute
<mod>
<quotedText>“the defendant”</quotedText>
</mod>
;
</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
<paragraph eId="section-214-8-b">
<num>b</num>
<content>
<p>
for “him”, in each place, substitute
<mod>
<quotedText>“the defendant”</quotedText>
</mod>
;
</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
<paragraph eId="section-214-8-c">
<num>c</num>
<content>
<p>omit “or” at the end of sub-paragraph (b);</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
<paragraph eId="section-214-8-d">
<num>d</num>
<content>
<p>at the end of sub-paragraph (c) insert </p>
<p class="BlockAmendment">
<mod>
<quotedStructure class="primary unknown main double" startQuote="" endQuote="">
<p class="run-on">, or</p>
<paragraph eId="d4e267">
<num>d</num>
<intro>
<p>the defendant—</p>
</intro>
<subparagraph eId="d4e273">
<num>i</num>
<content>
<p>was at the time of the offence charged a member of OFCOM, employed or engaged by OFCOM, or assisting OFCOM in the exercise of any of their online safety functions (within the meaning of section 235 of the Online Safety Act 2023), and</p>
</content>
</subparagraph>
<subparagraph eId="d4e279">
<num>ii</num>
<content>
<p>made the photograph or pseudo-photograph for the purposes of OFCOM’s exercise of any of those functions.</p>
</content>
</subparagraph>
</paragraph>
</quotedStructure>
</mod>
</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-214-9">
<num>9</num>
<content>
<p>After paragraph (2) insert—</p>
<p class="BlockAmendment">
<mod>
<quotedStructure class="primary unknown main double" startQuote="" endQuote="">
<subsection eId="d4e292">
<num>3</num>
<content>
<p>
In this Article “
<term refersTo="#term-ofcom">OFCOM</term>
” means the Office of Communications.
</p>
</content>
</subsection>
</quotedStructure>
</mod>
</p>
</content>
</subsection>
</hcontainer>
</section>
</hcontainer>
</part>
</portionBody>
</portion>
</akomaNtoso>