The Consumer Rights Bill: changes on the horizon for digital content providers?

This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.

This is the age of digital content, where consumers are abandoning traditional media and instead accessing content in digital form. Recent statistics show that digital sales for music, video and games in the UK now exceed £1 billion each year, with 44% of sales in the entertainment market arising from digital formats in 2013.

It is therefore surprising that there are no consumer laws which provide for minimum standards in relation to the supply of digital content. The laws which provide for standards in relation to goods and services date from the 1970s and 1980s, well before the Web was a glint in Sir Tim Berners-Lee's eye, and cannot be comfortably applied to digital content.

With this issue in mind, and as part of a broader plan to update consumer laws, the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) introduced the Consumer Rights Bill - which includes bespoke consumer rights in relation to digital content - to Parliament in January 2014.

This update considers what the Bill, if implemented in its current form, could mean for digital content businesses. In summary, whilst many businesses would welcome greater clarity over consumer rights and remedies, striking the right balance will be crucial in order to avoid fettering innovation and incurring unnecessary costs. The Bill represents an amended version of the draft Bill which was published in June 2013 and has already taken into account some of the concerns raised. However, with debate in Parliament ongoing, businesses still have the opportunity to voice their concerns.

Click here for a printable PDF of the full update.

This update covers the following:

• What is digital content?
• Is the lack of statutory standards in relation to digital content actually a problem?
• What statutory standards does the current law require digital content to meet?
• The proposed provisions on digital content in the bill
• What practical steps would digital content providers need to take if the bill gets passed?
• What could the bill mean for digital content providers, and what opportunities are there for businesses to voice their opinions?