# The Electronic Commerce (Amendment and Consequential Provision) Regulations 2026, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend provisions of regulations which relate to the Country of Origin Principle (“CoOP”) set out in Article 3 of Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (OJ No. L 178, 17.7.2000, pp. 1–16) (the “e-Commerce Directive”). The regulations amended or revoked by these Regulations are secondary retained EU law within the meaning of section 11(2) of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (c. 28) or are amended as a consequence of amendments made to that secondary retained EU law.
Regulation 2 repeals remaining CoOP provisions in the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/2013). These exempt EEA based providers from certain UK market access regulations in respect of the taking up or pursuit of an information society service including requirements concerning qualification, authorisation or notification and the quality or content of the provided service.
Regulation 3 repeals remaining CoOP provisions in the Electronic Commerce (Terrorism Act 2006) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1550). These provide that proceedings for offences under section 1 (Encouragement of terrorism) or section 2 (Dissemination of terrorist publications) of the Terrorism Act 2006 (c. 11) shall not be instituted against EEA based providers of information society services unless a public interest derogation condition is met.
Regulation 4 repeals remaining CoOP provisions in the Extreme Pornography (Electronic Commerce Directive) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (S.S.I. 2011/137). These provide that proceedings for an offence under section 51A (Possession of extreme pornography) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (c. 45) shall not be instituted against EEA based providers of information society services unless a public interest derogation condition is met.
Regulation 5 repeals remaining CoOP provisions in the Electronic Commerce (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/477). These provide that proceedings for certain specified offences shall not be instituted against EEA based providers of information society services unless a public interest derogation condition is met. It also repeals a review requirement.
Regulation 6, 7 and 8 contain amendments that are consequential on other provision made by these Regulations.
Copies of the e-Commerce Directive may be downloaded from the EUR-Lex database at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32000L0031. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.
An Explanatory Memorandum and a de minimis assessment have been prepared and are published alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/407/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/electronic-commerce-amendment-and-consequential-provision-regulations-2026/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.