Schedule 17: Video sharing platform services: transitional provision etc Section 214: Offences regarding indecent photographs of children: OFCOM defence
This section amends section 1B of the Protection of Children Act 1978 (defence to offence relating to indecent photographs of children) to create a defence for OFCOM when exercising their online safety functions.
	It inserts an additional section into the 1978 Act to create a defence for the offence of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child in circumstances where the defendant is a member of OFCOM, employed or engaged by OFCOM or assisting OFCOM in the exercise of their online safety functions and the photograph or pseudo-photograph is made for the purpose of any of OFCOM’s online safety functions, as defined in section 206 of the 1978 Act. It is expected that the handling of this material may be necessary in the course of OFCOM’s delivery of their online safety functions, as services e are required by duties in the legislation to proactively identify and remove this content. An example of a scenario in which OFCOM may be required to handle this material would be if OFCOM is assessing a services’ systems and processes to assess how they handle illegal content or needs to show that a service is not handling complaints about illegal content correctly.
	The section provides for amendment to the equivalent legislation in Scotland (Section 52 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (indecent photographs of children)) and in Northern Ireland (Article 3A of the Protection of Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (defence to offence relating to indecent photographs of children)).