Section 218Power to amend section 40

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations amend section 40 (fraud etc offences).

But the power to add an offence to that section is limited by subsections (2) and (3).

(2) An offence may be added to section 40 only if the Secretary of State considers it appropriate to do so because of—

• (a)
  the prevalence on Category 1 services of content (other than regulated user-generated content) consisting of paid-for advertisements that amount to that offence, or the prevalence in or via search results of Category 2A services of paid-for advertisements that amount to that offence,
• (b)
  the risk of harm to individuals in the United Kingdom presented by such advertisements, and
• (c)
  the severity of that harm.

(3) An offence may not be added to section 40 if—

• (a)
  the offence concerns—

  • (i)
    the infringement of intellectual property rights,
  • (ii)
    the safety or quality of goods (as opposed to what kind of goods they are), or
  • (iii)
    the performance of a service by a person not qualified to perform it; or
• (b)
  it is an offence under [^F1Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024].

(4) In this section—

• (a)
  “regulated user-generated content” has the same meaning as in Part 3 (see section 55);
• (b)
  the words “in or via search results” are to be construed in accordance with section 39;
• (c)
  references to advertisements that amount to an offence are to be construed in accordance with section 59 (see subsections (3), (11) and (12) of that section).