The Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
These regulations amend the Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2024 by revoking a saving provision related to community and small-scale radio.
This action streamlines legislation and ensures consistency with the Community Radio Order 2025, which addresses the relevant amendments made by the Media Act 2024.
The regulations come into force on April 1st, 2025.
Arguments For
Streamlining Legislation: Removing unnecessary saving provisions simplifies the legal framework, improving clarity and reducing potential for confusion.
Consistency with Updated Regulations: The revocation ensures consistency with the Community Radio Order 2025, which already accounts for the amendments made by the Media Act 2024.
Efficiency: Eliminating redundant regulations reduces administrative burden on relevant authorities and stakeholders.
Legal Certainty: The changes provide a clear legal landscape for community and small-scale radio broadcasters, reducing ambiguity and improving compliance.
Arguments Against
Unforeseen Consequences: Removing the saving provision might have unintended consequences for community and small-scale radio broadcasters although this is mitigated by the coinciding implementation of the Community Radio Order 2025
Lack of Significant Impact Assessment: The lack of a detailed impact assessment raises concerns about the potential effects on the sector, despite the claim of no significant impact.
- Citation and commencement (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025. (2) Regulation 2 comes into force on 1st April 2025.
This section details the title and effective date of the regulations.
The regulations are officially titled ‘Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.’ The key amendment, detailed in Regulation 2, will take effect on April 1st, 2025.
- Revocation of saving provision In the Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2024, omit regulation 5 (saving provision relating to community and small-scale radio).
This section outlines the core action of the regulations: the removal of regulation 5 from the Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2024.
Regulation 5 previously protected certain provisions of the Broadcasting Acts 1990 and 1996 for community and small-scale radio, despite amendments made by the Media Act 2024.
This section revokes that protection.
Explanatory Note (This note is not part of the Regulations) These Regulations revoke saving provision made in the Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/1033 (C. 70)) ("the 2024 Regulations"). Regulation 2 revokes regulation 5 of the 2024 Regulations. Regulation 5 provided that the certain provisions of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42) and the Broadcasting Act 1996 (c. 55) continued to have effect in relation to community radio and small-scale radio as if the amendments to those provisions by the Media Act 2024 (c. 15) had not been commenced. This saving provision is no longer needed as the modifications made to the Broadcasting Acts 1990 and 1996 by the Community Radio Order 2025 (S.I. 2025/0000), which comes into force on the same day as regulation 2 of these Regulations, has taken account of the amendments made to both of those Acts by the Media Act 2024. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary sector or community bodies is foreseen.
The explanatory note clarifies the reasons behind the regulations.
It explains that the removed regulation 5 was a temporary measure to maintain certain provisions of previous broadcasting acts for community and small-scale radio while amendments under the Media Act 2024 were implemented.
The note states that this temporary measure is no longer necessary due to the Community Radio Order 2025, which already incorporates the necessary changes.
The note also mentions the absence of an impact assessment due to the anticipated lack of significant effects.