My Lords, we question whether Clause 46 is as effective as it might be in this area. Although the debate on the last amendment was very helpful, it served to amplify some of our concerns about how this matter should be dealt with. As the Minister explained, the issue seems to be that there is the possibility of a price reduction if a trader fails to provide, or can neither repair nor replace, digital content if the consumer requires it but the trader is in breach of the requirement to do so within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience. There is an implication that this is about paid-for content and arises from the contract. An obvious question is how it will deal with free downloads. I think I caught the Minister saying that it did apply to free material. I listened carefully to what she said but I am still not quite sure about the implications of this in terms of getting redress. There is also a wider question about how these things are going to be calculated.
My first question is: what is the mechanism under which price reductions and replacement costs are going to be calculated? Is this a matter for the courts or will some guidance be issued? If there is, how will it be developed and will it be subject to the usual consultation? If it is not being dealt with by the courts or in documentation issued by the Government, who is going to decide this? Is it an ombudsman’s issue? Will there be a sliding scale of time for usage, given that some digital content such as streaming a film might be for one-off use while others might be longer, such as an anti-virus software package—which usually covers a computer for a year or longer—or games which might be used for even longer than that? What is the basis on which this will be approached? Is it that you have had it for 12 months and therefore it is a longer or shorter period depending on the original cost? Are there difficulties about digital content that relate to such matters as a consumer having had 11 months’ use out of a piece of anti-virus software that is supposed to last for 12 months but a fault in the program causes significant loss through damaged work files or a personal data breach? Do they only get one twelfth of the price paid because that is the period of time remaining under the original contract? Presumably there is a way of calculating a scale of loss in relation to the damage caused, and if so, will the Minister explain it?
Ending with our favourite fermium apps, how do they work? I gather from the body language and the nods that they will be included, but when do they get picked up? Do you get the full force of the law, as outlined in this clause, as soon as you have downloaded, or only once you have gone on to the premium aspects? How is the balance between the two come to? There
seem to be so many questions that the clause is not working effectively. I would like to hear further from the Minister before deciding on this matter.