Need To Know - 19th April 2021

• Published date: 20 April 2021
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Privacy, IT and Internet, Data Protection, Copyright, Advertising, Marketing & Branding, Gaming, Social Media
• Law Firm: Wiggin
• Author: Wiggin LLP

Introduction

In Brexit news this week, we report on the European Data Protection Board's Opinions on the Commission's draft UK adequacy decision, in which the EDPB acknowledges the convergence between EU and UK data protection laws, but highlights a number of areas on which it says the Commission should gather more information. The EDPB also calls for the Commission to monitor the UK's legal framework closely in the future and be ready to suspend the decision should the UK's laws diverge too much from those of the EU. Meanwhile, in the UK, the House of Commons European Scrutiny Select Committee has published a report following its inquiry on UK parliamentary scrutiny of the Withdrawal Agreement UK/EU Joint Committee and application of the Northern Ireland Protocol, in which it criticises the Government for not providing it with enough information on the Withdrawal Agreement and not doing it in a timely manner. Also this week, we report on the High Court decision to grant an order for Extended Disclosure for a preliminary issues trial in a global copyright infringement case relating to an airline's inflight entertainment system. Finally, we report on Facebook's agreement, following investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, to take more action to tackle the trading of fake and misleading reviews.

GENERAL

House of Lords European Affairs Select Committee appointed.

The House of Lords European Affairs Select Committee has been appointed to consider matters relating to the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union and the European Economic Area, including:

• the implementation and governance structures of any agreements between the United Kingdom and the European Union;
• to consider European Union documents deposited in the House by a minister; and
• to support the House as appropriate in interparliamentary cooperation with the European Parliament and the Member States of the European Union.

The new Committee replaces the House of Lords European Union Select Committee and its remaining sub-committees. For further information, click here.

House of Commons European Scrutiny Select Committee publishes report following its inquiry on the UK parliamentary scrutiny of the Withdrawal Agreement UK/EU Joint Committee and application of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The report finds that the UK/EU Joint Committee, which was set up to manage the Withdrawal Agreement, has considerable legal and political importance, mainly because of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Joint Committee oversees the implementation, application and interpretation of rules under the Withdrawal Agreement, including the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The report says that the Government has provided Parliament with information about the decisions of the UK/EU Joint Committee which has been both incomplete and too late. This means that the Scrutiny Committee has not been able to exercise proper democratic scrutiny. The report repeatedly emphasises the importance of the UK/EU Joint Committee, especially as it can make legally binding decisions that concern the people and businesses of Northern Ireland.

The report finds that there is significantly more that the Government could, and should, be doing to facilitate democratic oversight. For example, it calls on the Government to provide detailed agendas ahead of UK/EU Joint Committee meetings and to make the minutes of these UK/EU meetings publicly available. The report also asks that Government analyses given to Parliament about EU legislation relevant to Northern Ireland, known as "Explanatory Memoranda", should be submitted in sufficient time and with adequate detail for it to consider them before the joint UK/EU Joint Committee takes any relevant binding decisions.

The report identifies several areas where it says it needs further and better information in order to exercise proper parliamentary scrutiny:

• "at risk" goods: these are goods imported into Northern Ireland, but which may then be "at risk" of ending up in Ireland and avoiding the tariffs required of goods entering the EU's Single Market; the Northern Ireland Protocol includes a very restrictive definition of goods "not at risk", meaning that EU tariffs are potentially applicable on an indeterminate number of imports into Northern Ireland from Great Britain;
• the arbitration panel: if the UK and the EU have disagreements about the Withdrawal Agreement and a resolution cannot be reached through consultations in the UK/EU Joint Committee, they can request the establishment of an arbitration panel drawn from a pool of members named by the UK and the EU; the pool of UK members to be appointed to the panel was communicated to the Scrutiny Committee just one day before the list was adopted by the Joint Committee; there had been no communication on this subject at all prior to the list being made available; and
• "level playing field" issues: the UK and the EU interpret the applicability of EU state aid rules under the Northern Ireland Protocol in very different ways; this is concerning as it may impact on the willingness of companies to accept subsidies, or of state authorities to grant them; the EU's interpretation of the rules could in theory result in the EU intervening with respect to UK subsidies that only have a minimal, or even "merely potential" impact on trade between Northern Ireland and the EU; by contrast, the UK interpretation is that EU intervention would only be permissible if the EU Commission could prove a "real and material impact" on EU-Northern Ireland trade in goods.

The Scrutiny Committee has referred various questions to the Government to address the above concerns. To read the Committee's summary of the report in full and for a link to the full report, click here.

MUSIC

High Court grants order for Extended Disclosure for preliminary issues trial in global copyright infringement case relating to airline's inflight entertainment system.

The Performing Right Society Limited issued proceedings against Qatar Airways Group QCSC for global copyright infringement concerning the use of PRS repertoire works in Qatar Airways'...