139L.— (1) An online safety code applies to a designated online service if—

(a) the Commission has determined that the code is to apply to the service, or to a designated category of services that includes the service,

(b) the Commission has given notice of the determination, and the notice has taken effect, in accordance with subsection (2), and

(c) the determination has not been revoked.

(2) Notice under subsection (1)(b)—

(a) in the case of a service designated as a named service, must be given to the provider of the service in writing, and takes effect when the notice is given to the provider, and

(b) in the case of a designated category of services, must be given by publication of notice of the determination on a website maintained by the Commission, and takes effect at the end of the period of 28 days after the date on which the notice is published on the website.

(3) Before making or revoking a determination under subsection (1) in relation to a named service or a category of services, the Commission shall have regard in particular to—

(a) the nature and the scale of the service, or of services within the category,

(b) levels of availability of harmful online content on the service, or on services within the category,

(c) levels of risk of exposure to harmful online content when using the service, or services within the category,

(d) levels of risk of harm, and in particular harm to children, from the availability of harmful online content or exposure to it on the service, or on services within the category,

(e) the rights of the provider of the service, or providers of services within the category, and

(f) the rights of users of the service, or users of services within the category.

(4) Before making or revoking a determination under subsection (1), the Commission shall consult—

(a) where the designation is of a named service, the provider of the service,

(b) where the designation is of a category of services—

(i) an organisation representative of providers of services falling within the category, if there is such an organisation, and

(ii) the providers of those services, so far as the Commission is able to consult them,

(c) any advisory committee the Commission has established for that purpose under section 19, and

(d) any other person the Commission considers appropriate.

(5) An online safety code applying to an interpersonal communications service or a private online storage service applies to that service only in so far as it relates to content that falls within one of the offence‑specific categories of online content defined in section 139A(2).

(6) In this section—

“interpersonal communications service” means a service normally provided for remuneration that enables direct interpersonal and interactive exchange of information between a finite number of persons by means of electronic communications networks, where the persons initiating or participating in the communication determine its recipients, but it does not include services which enable interpersonal and interactive communication only as a minor ancillary feature that is intrinsically linked to another service;

“private online storage service” means any service providing online storage, other than—

(a) local or temporary storage, or

(b) storage provided for the purpose of enabling the provision of another service, or as a minor ancillary feature intrinsically linked to another service;

“temporary storage” means the automatic, intermediate and temporary storage of information for the sole purpose of making more efficient onward transmission of that information.]