Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022

Meaning of “under the jurisdiction of the State”: media service providers

4. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 2:

“2A. (1) For the purposes of this Act, the question whether a media service provider is under the jurisdiction of the State (or another Member State) is to be determined in accordance with this section.

(2) A media service provider is under the jurisdiction of a Member State if under subsection (5) it is established in that state.

(3) If a media service provider is not, under subsection (5), established in a Member State, then the provider is under the jurisdiction of a Member State if—

(a) it uses a satellite up-link situated in that state, or

(b) it uses satellite capacity appertaining to that state.

(4) If subsections (2) and (3) do not determine the question in relation to a media service provider, then the provider is under the jurisdiction of the Member State in which it is established within the meaning of Articles 49 to 55 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

(5) The following provisions apply to a media service provider for the purposes of subsections (2) and (3):

(a) if the provider has its head office in a Member State, and the relevant editorial decisions are taken in the same Member State, the provider is established in that Member State;

(b) if the provider has its head office in a Member State, and the relevant editorial decisions are taken in another Member State, then—

(i) if a significant part of the workforce involved in the pursuit of the programme-related audiovisual media service activity operates in the Member State where the provider has its head office, the provider is established in that Member State,

(ii) if subparagraph (i) does not apply but a significant part of the workforce involved in the pursuit of the programme-related audiovisual media service activity operates in the Member State where relevant editorial decisions are taken, the provider is established in that Member State, and

(iii) if neither subparagraph (i) nor subparagraph (ii) applies, the provider is established in the Member State where it first began its activity in accordance with the law of that Member State, provided that it maintains a stable and effective link with the economy of that Member State;

(c) if the place where the provider has its head office and the place where the relevant editorial decisions are taken are different, and only one of them is in a Member State, the provider is established in that Member State, provided that a significant part of the workforce involved in the pursuit of the audiovisual media service activity operates in that Member State.

(6) In this section—

‘audiovisual media service activity’ means activity relating to the audiovisual media service concerned;

‘relevant editorial decisions’ means editorial decisions about the audiovisual media service concerned.”.