UK Government proposes new laws to protect the security of communications

The UK Government has today published the Telecommunications (Security) Bill with proposals to significantly increase the responsibility of communications providers in ensuring the security of networks and services. As well as providing a legal framework for the ban on Huawei 5G equipment (as well as any other vendors deemed to pose a high security risk), the Bill imposes new obligations on providers to proactively mitigate against security risks and to implement measures imposed by Ofcom. Ofcom can impose fines (calculated daily) for breaches of the new regime, up to a maximum of 10% of relevant turnover (or £10m in relation to a failure to provide information) and affected users may, with Ofcom’s permission, bring claims direct. See: Telecommunications (Security) Bill - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)