The Communications Act 2003 is the United Kingdom’s central framework for regulating the communications sector. It establishes and empowers Ofcom as the unified regulator, consolidating oversight of telecommunications networks, broadcasting (TV and radio), spectrum use, and certain aspects of media ownership and competition. The Act sets out Ofcom’s core duties—such as promoting consumer interests, ensuring competition, maintaining content standards, and protecting the public—while also providing detailed rules on licensing, market regulation, broadcasting standards, and increasingly, digital and online services. It has been amended numerous times to incorporate newer policy areas (such as online safety and digital markets). Part 4C, inserted via the Health and Care Act 2022, regulates online advertising of “less healthy” food and drink. Its central rule is a prohibition—effective from 5 January 2026—on paying for online advertisements for identifiable less healthy food or drink products, subject to key exceptions (notably for small and medium-sized enterprises, certain business-to-business advertising, and specific media contexts). It also defines what counts as “less healthy” by reference to government nutrient profiling guidance, allows the Secretary of State to create further exemptions, and establishes a regulatory framework (including potential designation of bodies and information-sharing powers) to enforce and potentially expand the scope of the prohibition.
Isle of Man (UK) · 2003-07-17