Lord Clement-Jones (LD)

My Lords, in moving Amendment 51, I will also speak to Amendments 52, 53, 54 and 209 in my name, which seek to create new criminal offences under the Bill. The first is the offence of using a trust mark without permission; the second is providing false information to the Secretary of State in response to an information notice; and the third is using a false digital identity document, which is really an alternative to digital identity theft. Clause 50 currently contains no real consequence for a person using a trust mark without permission. A trust mark, which has no specific definition in the Bill, may be used only by those who are in the DVS register. Clause 50(3) says: “A mark designated under this section may not be used by a person in the course of providing, or offering to provide, digital verification services unless the person is registered in the DVS register in respect of those digital verification services”. Clause 50(4) then says: “The Secretary of State may enforce subsection (3)” by civil injunction or interdict. This has no real teeth in circumstances where there are persistent and flagrant offenders, regardless of whether it is on a personal or commercial scale. Amendment 51 would give appropriate penalties, with a fine on summary conviction and two years’ imprisonment, or a fine on indictment. Amendment 52 would make provision so that a prosecution may not be brought unless by or with the consent of the appropriate chief prosecutor. Amendment 54 relates to providing false information to the Secretary of State. That is advanced on a similar basis, containing a power for the Secretary of State to require information. Of course, many regulators have this power. On the issue of false digital identities—identity theft —Amendment 53 is a refinement of the Amendment 289 which I tabled to the late, unlamented DPDI Bill in Committee. That amendment was entitled “Digital identity theft”. I have also retabled the original amendment, but in many ways Amendment 53 is preferable because it is much more closely aligned to the Identity Documents Act, which contains several offences that relate to the use of a person’s identity document. Currently, an identity document includes an immigration document—a passport or similar document—or a driving licence.