The Enterprise Act 2002 (Amendment of Section 58 Considerations) Order 2025
The Enterprise Act 2002 (Amendment of Section 58 Considerations) Order 2025, effective July 24, 2025, amends the Enterprise Act 2002 to modernize its approach to media mergers.
It updates terminology, replacing 'newspapers' with 'news media' and including broadcasting, thus expanding and clarifying the public interest considerations involved in merger reviews.
These amendments also entail procedural changes in designated sections of the Act and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.
A savings provision protects the effects of pre-existing decisions.
Arguments For
Modernizing Media Merger Regulations: The amendments update outdated terminology (e.g., replacing 'newspapers' with 'news media') to reflect the current media landscape, ensuring the legislation remains relevant and effective in regulating mergers.
Broadening Public Interest Considerations: The changes expand the scope of public interest considerations in media mergers by including broadcasting and news programmes under a more comprehensive definition of 'news media'. This ensures a broader assessment of potential impacts on public interest.
Enhanced Clarity and Precision: The inclusion of precise definitions for 'news media', 'news programme', and 'news-related material' enhances clarity and avoids potential ambiguity in the application of the law. This leads to greater consistency in decision-making during merger reviews.
Legislative Consistency: The amendments maintain consistency between different sections of the Enterprise Act 2002 and related legislation, creating a cohesive legal framework for regulating media mergers and promoting clarity for stakeholders.
Legal Basis: Amendments are made under the powers conferred by specific sections of the Enterprise Act 2002, providing a solid legal foundation for the changes. This ensures conformity to established parliamentary processes.
Arguments Against
Potential Unintended Consequences: The expanded definition of 'news media' could create difficulties in distinguishing between news and other forms of broadcasting, potentially leading to unintended regulatory burdens on organizations that do not primarily focus on news.
Implementation Challenges: Defining and applying the new terms ('news media', 'news programme', 'news-related material') might prove challenging for regulatory bodies and businesses that need to comply with the amended legislation. This could require additional resources and training.
Administrative Burden: The amendments might increase the administrative burden on regulatory authorities during merger reviews, potentially lengthening the intervention process due to more detailed assessment of public interest implications.
Potential for Overreach: The broader application of public interest considerations could lead to greater government intervention in media mergers. This might affect market competition and innovation if not carefully managed.
Lack of Public Consultation: Without explicit details, it's possible the amendments lacked broad public consultation which could lead to certain aspects being overlooked or insufficiently considered.
- Citation, commencement, interpretation and extent (1) This Order may be cited as the Enterprise Act 2002 (Amendment of Section 58 Considerations) Order 2025 and comes into force on 24th July 2025. (2) In this Order, “the Act” means the Enterprise Act 2002. (3) This Order extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
This section provides the title and effective date of the Order (July 24, 2025).
It also clarifies what 'the Act' refers to (Enterpirse Act 2002) and states its geographical scope: the whole of the UK.
- Amendment to section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002 In section 58 of the Act (specified considerations)— (a) in subsection (2A), for “newspapers” substitute “news media”; (b) in subsection (2B), for “newspapers”, in both places it occurs, substitute “news media”; (c) in subsection (2C), in paragraph (c), for “media enterprises” substitute “enterprises consisting in or involving broadcasting”; (d) after subsection (2E) insert— “(2F) In this Part, “news media” means— (a) newspapers; or (b) news programmes. (2G) In this Part, “news programme” means a programme— (a) consisting of, or including, news-related material; and (b) included in broadcasting. (2H) For the purposes of subsection (2G)— (a) “news-related material” includes— (i) news or information about current affairs; and (ii) opinion about matters relating to the news and current affairs; (b) a programme is not to be treated as consisting of, or including, news-related material if the news-related material contained in the programme— (i) is included only incidentally to the main content of the programme; or (ii) relates wholly to a particular pastime, hobby, trade, business, industry or profession.”
This section amends section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002.
It updates the definition of media, replacing 'newspapers' with 'news media' and adding specific definitions of news media to include newspapers and news programs.
It also expands the definition of 'media enterprises' to explicitly consider broadcasting.
New subsections (2F), (2G), and (2H) give detailed definitions of these key concepts to ensure clarity of application.
- Amendment to section 58A of the Enterprise Act 2002 In section 58A of the Act (construction of consideration specified in section 58(2C))— (a) in subsection (1) at the end insert “or is a newspaper enterprise”; (b) omit subsection (2).
This section amends section 58A of the Enterprise Act 2002, modifying how considerations specified in section 58(2C) are to be interpreted.
It adds 'or is a newspaper enterprise' to subsection (1) and removes subsection (2).
This aligns the section with the changes made to section 58 improving legal consistency.
- Amendment to section 59 of the Enterprise Act 2002 In section 59 of the Act (intervention by the Secretary of State in special public interest cases)— (a) in subsection (3E)(b), in the substituted words, omit “or a newspaper enterprise”; (b) in subsection (3F), in the substituted words, omit “or a newspaper enterprise”.
This section amends section 59 of the Enterprise Act 2002 which relates to the Secretary of State's intervention in public interest cases.
This section removes references to 'newspaper enterprise' from subsections (3E)(b) and (3F).
The removal aligns the section with the broader definition of 'news media' and removes redundancy.
- Amendment to section 130 of the Enterprise Act 2002 In section 130 of the Act (index of defined expressions), insert at the appropriate place— “News media Section 58(2F)”, “News media enterprise Paragraph 20A(5A) of Schedule 8”, and “News programme Section 58(2G)”.
This section updates the index of defined expressions in section 130 if the Enterprise Act 2002.
It adds definitions for 'News media', 'News media enterprise', and 'News programme', reflecting the newly implemented definitions provided in the order.
- Amendment to Schedule 8 to the Enterprise Act 2002 In paragraph 20A of Schedule 8 to the Act (newspaper mergers)— (a) in the heading, for “Newspaper” substitute “News media”; (b) in sub-paragraph (1)— (i) in paragraph (a)(i), for “newspaper” substitute “news media”; (ii) in paragraph (a)(ii), for “newspaper” substitute “news media”; (iii) in paragraph (a)(iv), for “newspaper” substitute “news media”; (c) in sub-paragraph (4)(c), for “newspaper” substitute “news media enterprise”; (d) in sub-paragraph (5)— (i) for “newspaper” substitute “news media”; (ii) in paragraph (b), after “broadcasting” insert “(other than the broadcasting of news programmes)”; (e) after sub-paragraph (5) insert— “(5A) In this paragraph, “news media enterprise” means— (a) a newspaper enterprise; or (b) an enterprise consisting in or involving the broadcasting of news programmes.”
This section amends paragraph 20A of Schedule 8 to the Enterprise Act 2002, which deals with newspaper mergers.
It broadly updates the language to reflect wider media definitions, changing 'newspaper' to 'news media' in many instances.
This includes creating a new definition for 'news media enterprise' encompassing both newspaper and broadcasting.
- Amendment to Schedule 4 to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (1) Schedule 4 to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (the Competition and Markets Authority) is amended as follows. (2) In paragraph 35— (a) in sub-paragraph (1)(a), for “newspaper”, in each place it occurs, substitute “news media”; (b) in sub-paragraph (3), for “newspaper”, in both places it occurs, substitute “news media”. (3) In paragraph 38— (a) in sub-paragraph (3), for “newspaper”, in each place it occurs, substitute “news media”; (b) in sub-paragraph (6), for “newspaper”, in both places it occurs, substitute “news media”.
This section makes consequential amendments to Schedule 4 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, which concerns the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
It updates references to ‘newspaper’ with ‘news media’ within paragraphs 35 and 38 to maintain consistency with the changes made in the Enterprise Act 2002.
- Savings provision The amendments made by article 7 do not apply to a case in respect of which— (a) an intervention notice has been given to the Competition and Markets Authority under section 42(2) of the Act, or (b) a special intervention notice has been given to the Competition and Markets Authority under section 59(2) of the Act, before the date on which this Order comes into force.
This section includes a savings provision – stating that the amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 do not apply to cases where the CMA has already received an intervention notice (from Article 7) before the Order comes into effect, ensuring that ongoing reviews are not disrupted.