# Online Safety Act 2023, Paragraph 9: Services provided by public bodies

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) A user-to-user service or a search service is exempt if—
(a) both of the following conditions are met in relation to the service—
(i) the provider of the service is a public authority within the meaning of section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998, and
(ii) the service is provided in the exercise of public functions only,
(b) the provider of the service is Parliament, either House of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, the Northern Ireland Assembly or a person acting on behalf of any of those institutions,
(c) the provider of the service is a foreign sovereign power, or
(d) both of the following conditions are met in relation to the service—
(i) the provider of the service is an entity formed under the law of a country outside the United Kingdom, which exercises functions of a public nature, and
(ii) the service is provided in the exercise of such functions only.
(2) But a user-to-user service or a search service is not exempt under this paragraph if—
(a) the provider of the service is a person providing education or childcare, and
(b) the service is provided for the purposes of that education or childcare.
See paragraph 10 for an exemption for services provided by persons providing education or childcare of particular descriptions.
(3) This paragraph is without prejudice to the fact that this Act does not apply in relation to a user-to-user or search service provided by the Crown.
(4) In this paragraph, “public function” means a function that is a function of a public nature for the purposes of the Human Rights Act 1998.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/schedule/1/paragraph/9 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/online-safety-act-2023/schedule-1/paragraph-9
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.