The Electronic Commerce Directive (Adoption and Children Act 2002) Regulations 2005

Interpretation U.K.

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Adoption and Children Act 2002;

“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;

“co-ordinated field” has the meaning given to that expression in article 2(h) of the electronic commerce directive;

“country of origin” in relation to an incoming electronic commerce activity means the EEA State in which is situated the establishment from which the information society service in question is provided;

“EEA State” means a member State of the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein;

“electronic commerce directive” means Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular, electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce);

“incoming electronic commerce activity” means an activity which consists of the provision of an information society service from an establishment in an EEA State other than the United Kingdom to a person or persons in the United Kingdom;

“incoming provider” means a person carrying on an incoming electronic commerce activity;

“information society service” means an information society service within the meaning of article 2(a) of the electronic commerce directive;

“prohibited measure” means a measure imposed for reasons falling within the co-ordinated field which constitutes a restriction on the freedom to provide an incoming electronic commerce activity;

“recipient of the service” means any natural or legal person who, for professional ends or otherwise, uses an information society service, in particular for the purposes of seeking information or making it accessible; and

“relevant EEA authority” means the authority of the EEA State (other than the United Kingdom), which is the country of origin of the incoming electronic commerce activity to which the Secretary of State is seeking to apply a prohibited measure, which appears to a responsible authority to be the appropriate authority for the purposes of meeting the procedural conditions.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations—

(a) an establishment, in connection with an information society service, is the place at which the provider of the service (being a national of an EEA State or a company or firm as mentioned in Article 48 of the treaty establishing the European Community) effectively pursues an economic activity for an indefinite period;

(b) the presence or use in a particular place of equipment or other technical means of providing an information society service does not, of itself, constitute that place as an establishment of the kind mentioned in sub-paragraph (a);

(c) where it cannot be determined from which of a number of establishments a given information society service is provided, that service is to be regarded as provided from the establishment where the provider has the centre of his activities relating to the service;

(d) the responsible authorities are—

(i) in relation to England, the Secretary of State;

(ii) in relation to Wales, the National Assembly for Wales;

(iii) in relation to Scotland, the Scottish Ministers;

(iv) in relation to Northern Ireland, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety;

(v) in relation to England, the Commission for Social Care Inspection M1 ; and

(vi) in relation to Scotland, the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care M2 .

Marginal Citations

M1 Established by the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 (c. 43).

M2 Established by the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 (2001 asp8).