Human Rights Committee may get veto on copyright cases

Lord Mandelson's proposal will see the Human Rights Committee able to block copyright laws asking ISPs to suspend service

Mandelson: reserve power was needed to "future proof" the legislation

Business secretary Lord Mandelson has come close to giving the Joint Commons and Lords Human Rights Committee the power to veto any orders made under the proposed Digital Economy Bill to crack down on copyright infringement abuse.

This undertaking was published ahead of the Lords' final approval of the bill on Monday, which contains provisions to enable copyright holders to compel internet service providers to act against abusers, in the last resort by suspending service.

The bill faces passage through the Commons, where it is not yet even scheduled for debate. The passage is expected to be truncated in the rush to the general election – likely to be on 6 May.

The legislation will therefore find itself subject to inter-party horse-trading in the "wash-up"; the last few days before the Queen dissolves Parliament, when Conservative and Liberal Democrat opponents will have greater power to block parts of the bill to which they object.

Lord Mandelson told the committee the reserve power was needed to " future-proof" the legislation and pledged the government would "consider very carefully any negative recommendation" to proposed orders made by the committee on the grounds that it would infringe the human rights of the copyright owners, the internet users or any other party.

An added memorandum said: "If the Joint Committee on Human Rights recommended against any planned use of the power, no further progress could be made unless the committee's recommendation is overturned by resolution of the whole House.

"Given the support shown by all parliamentarians for human rights considerations, this in effect provides a very powerful safeguard against misuse."

An earlier report from the committee asked the government to justify including the right to make future revisions to the bill by order, and asked for clarification on the issue of affected individuals having the right to appeal before being cut off.

The committee made no comment on Mandelson's letter, which also gave that assurance.