Section 32Part 7 — Intermediaries and E-commerce Service Providers
Liability of e-commerce service providers
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In proceedings against an intermediary or e-commerce service provider for a offence consisting of or arising out of the processing of an electronic record by means of his system, it shall be a defence for him to show that he was not the originator of the record and either —
that he did not know, and had no reasonable cause to suspect that, the processing of the record would (apart from this subsection) constitute or give rise to that offence; or
as soon as reasonably practicable after he knew or had reasonable cause to suspect that the processing of the record would (apart from this subsection) constitute or give rise to that offence that —
he took such steps as were reasonable to prevent such processing by means of his system; and
he notified a constable of any relevant facts in his possession.
An intermediary or e-commerce service provider shall not be subject to any civil liability in respect of an electronic record which is processed by means of his system if he was not the originator of the record and —
he did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the processing of it would (apart from this subsection) give rise to that liability; or
as soon as reasonably practicable after he knew or had reasonable cause to suspect that the processing of the record would (apart from this subsection) give rise to that liability, he took such steps as were reasonable to prevent such processing by means of his system.
An intermediary or e-commerce service provider shall not be subject to any civil liability for any action he takes in good faith under subsection (1)(b) or (2)(b).
An intermediary or e-commerce service provider shall not be required to monitor any electronic record processed by means of his system in order to ascertain whether its processing would (apart from this section) constitute or give rise to an offence or give rise to civil liability.
Except as provided by subsection (3), nothing in this section shall relieve an intermediary or e-commerce service provider from —
any obligation to comply with an order or direction of a court or other competent authority; or
any contractual obligation.
Defined Terms
intermediarye-commerce service providerelectronic recordoriginator