- Latest available (Revised)
- Original (As enacted)
Online Safety Act 2023
You are here:
- UK Public General Acts
- 2023 c. 50
- PART 3
- CHAPTER 3
- Search services: which duties...
What Version
Advanced Features
- Show Geographical Extent(e.g. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
- Show Timeline of Changes
Opening Options
More Resources
Changes over time for: Cross Heading: Search services: which duties apply, and scope of duties
Alternative versions:
Changes to legislation:
There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Online Safety Act 2023, Cross Heading: Search services: which duties apply, and scope of duties.
Changes to Legislation
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.
Search services: which duties apply, and scope of dutiesU.K.
24Providers of search services: duties of careU.K.
(1)Subsections (2) to (4) apply to determine which of the duties set out in this Chapter must be complied with by providers of regulated search services.
(2)All providers of regulated search services must comply with the following duties in relation to each such service which they provide—
(a)the duties about illegal content risk assessments set out in section 26,
(b)the duties about illegal content set out in section 27(2) to (8),
(c)the duty about content reporting set out in section 31,
(d)the duties about complaints procedures set out in section 32,
(e)the duties about freedom of expression and privacy set out in section 33, and
(f)the duties about record-keeping and review set out in section 34(2) to (6).
(3)Additional duties must be complied with by providers of particular kinds of regulated search services, as follows.
(4)All providers of regulated search services that are likely to be accessed by children must comply with the following duties in relation to each such service which they provide—
(a)the duties about children’s risk assessments set out in section 28, and
(b)the duties to protect children’s online safety set out in section 29(2) to (8).
(5)All providers of regulated search services that are Category 2A services must comply with the following duties in relation to each such service which they provide—
(a)the duty about illegal content risk assessments set out in section 27(9),
(b)the duty about children’s risk assessments set out in section 29(9), and
(c)the duty about record-keeping set out in section 34(9).
(6)For the meaning of “likely to be accessed by children”, see section 37.
(7)For the meaning of “Category 2A service”, see section 95 (register of categories of services).
Commencement Information
I1S. 24 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 240(1)
I2S. 24 in force at 10.1.2024 by S.I. 2023/1420, reg. 2(j)
25Scope of duties of careU.K.
(1)A duty set out in this Chapter which must be complied with in relation to a search service extends only to—
(a)the search content of the service,
(b)the design, operation and use of the search engine in the United Kingdom, and
(c)in the case of a duty that is expressed to apply in relation to users of a service, the design, operation and use of the search engine as it affects United Kingdom users of the service.
(2)For the purposes of the application of this Chapter in relation to the search engine of a combined service (see section 7(6))—
(a)a duty set out in this Chapter which requires a matter to be included in a publicly available statement may be satisfied by including the matter in the terms of service;
(b)references in this Chapter (except in section 24) to a search service are to be read as references to the search engine;
(c)references in this Chapter (except in section 24) to the provider of a search service are to be read as references to the provider of the combined service.
Commencement Information
I3S. 25 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 240(1)
I4S. 25 in force at 10.1.2024 by S.I. 2023/1420, reg. 2(j)
Options/Help
Print Options
PrintThe Whole Act
PrintThe Whole Part
PrintThe Whole Chapter
PrintThis Cross Heading only
You have chosen to open The Whole Act
The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open The Whole Act as a PDF
The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open The Whole Act without Schedules
The Whole Act without Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open The Whole Act without Schedules as a PDF
The Whole Act without Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open the Whole Act
The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open the Whole Act without Schedules
The Whole Act without Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
You have chosen to open Schedules only
The Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
Legislation is available in different versions:
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.
See additional information alongside the content
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Opening Options
Different options to open legislation in order to view more content on screen at once
Explanatory Notes
Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.
More Resources
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
- the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy
- lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item
- confers power and blanket amendment details
- all formats of all associated documents
- correction slips
- links to related legislation and further information resources
Timeline of Changes
This timeline shows the different points in time where a change occurred. The dates will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. The first date in the timeline will usually be the earliest date when the provision came into force. In some cases the first date is 01/02/1991 (or for Northern Ireland legislation 01/01/2006). This date is our basedate. No versions before this date are available. For further information see the Editorial Practice Guide and Glossary under Help.
More Resources
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
- the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy
- correction slips
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including:
- lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item
- confers power and blanket amendment details
- all formats of all associated documents
- links to related legislation and further information resources
All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. This site additionally contains content derived from EUR-Lex, reused under the terms of the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU on the reuse of documents from the EU institutions. For more information see the EUR-Lex public statement on re-use.