Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 1
Fourteenth Report - NFTs and the Blockchain: the risks to sport and culture
Published 11 Oct 2023
Paragraph 18
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the blockchain All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Intellectual property laws and copyright protection are central to enabling artists to create, innovate and make a living from their work. Emerging technologies that undermine these protections have a profound impact on individual artists and the UK’s world-leading creative industries more generally. We recommend that the Government engages with NFT marketplaces to address the scale of infringement and enable copyright holders to enforce their rights. The Government should also address the impact of safe harbour provisions by introducing a code of conduct for online marketplaces operating in the UK, including NFT marketplaces, that protects creators, consumers and sellers from infringing and fraudulent material sold on these platforms.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Fourteenth Report - NFTs and the Blockchain: the risks to sport and culture (HC 598), paragraph 18, 11 October 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 12 January 2024 (deadline 11 January 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government responds to the Committee's NFT report by setting out existing protections and ongoing work, declining a new code of conduct and the requested Article 17 analysis, while committing to engage with NFT marketplaces.
- On a code of conduct for online marketplaces, the Government "does not intend to introduce" one, saying stakeholder engagement showed "a code was not needed at that time" and that it is "not aware of any evidence" to change this for NFT marketplaces.
- On analysis of Article 17 of the Digital Single Market Directive, the Government is "unable to conduct this analysis at present" as "more time is required". It will engage with NFT marketplaces, which "will help to inform any future, potential policy approach".
- On fan tokens, the Government says they will not form part of the Independent Football Regulator's assessment of fan engagement, which will review "the structures in place for consulting a representative group of supporters".
- On misleading NFT advertising, the Government "will introduce a new regulatory framework" to combat scam and fraudulent advertising, including advertising relating to NFTs, requiring in-scope organisations in the advertising supply chain to have "proportionate systems and processes" in place.