United KingdomOpen Internet Access, Safeguarding of Open Internet Access
In force since .
A common carriage rule binding private bodies.
- Enforcement body
- Ofcom, the Office of Communications.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Governance
What it requires
- Treat all traffic equally when providing internet access services, without discrimination, restriction or interference, irrespective of the sender and receiver, the content accessed or distributed, the applications or services used or provided, or the terminal equipment used.
- Apply only reasonable traffic management, which must be transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate, not based on commercial considerations, not monitor specific content and not last longer than necessary; do not block, slow down, alter, restrict, interfere with, degrade or discriminate between specific content, applications or services except as necessary to comply with national legislation, preserve network integrity and security, or prevent impending or exceptional congestion.
- Do not let an agreement with an end-user, or a commercial practice, limit the end-user's right to access and distribute information and content, use and provide applications and services, and use terminal equipment of their choice.
- Offer a service other than internet access that is optimised for specific content or applications only where the optimisation is necessary for a specific level of quality, network capacity is sufficient to carry it in addition to internet access, and it is neither usable or offered as a replacement for internet access nor to the detriment of its availability or general quality.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Regulation 21(1) caps a penalty for a breach other than of an information requirement at ten per cent. of the turnover of the notified person's relevant business for the relevant period, and regulation 20(6) caps a daily penalty for a continuing breach after a confirmation decision at GBP 20,000 per day.
- Rule
- Turnover pct only
- As of
- Turnover percentage cap
- 10
What this law does
Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120, as it has effect in UK law, requires a provider of internet access services to treat all traffic equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, irrespective of the sender and receiver, the content, the applications or services used or the terminal equipment, subject to reasonable traffic management.
Ofcom may penalise a breach of an obligation under articles 3, 4 or 5 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 by up to ten per cent of the turnover of the notified person's relevant business for the relevant period.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app provides telecom services.
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