UK Parliament / Open data

Consumer Rights Bill

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for her response. In contrast to some of her earlier responses, I am not quite convinced by her analysis of the clause. This is a very serious potential issue for software suppliers in these circumstances. I noticed that she used the phrase “unnecessarily complex” again. That seems to me to be a splendid phrase to pop into a response when it is just too much bother to put in a clarifying phrase. Either it “does not provide enough clarity” or it is “unnecessarily complex”.

Although I am not wholly convinced by my noble friend’s response, I will consider it very carefully, particularly in the light of existing liabilities. My understanding of the law as it is at present is that it is not the case that liability is unlimited. I believe the clause is creating a new form of absolute liability in these circumstances. I may be wrong, but I need to check that. Therefore, I am not convinced by the

Minister saying, “We do not want to alter the current legal regime and that is why we have got the clause as it is”. My belief is that the clause will add to liability and create a disincentive, and that it needs mitigating in some different respects. I have no doubt that we will come back to that at some stage in the future. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
756 cc212-3GC 
Session
2014-15
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords Grand Committee
Subjects
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