Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Bill C-22 imposes two duties on those who provide an Internet service to the public. First, under clause 3 providers are required to report, in effect, Internet address tips that they might receive regarding websites where child pornography may be available. In addition to that, under clause 4 providers are required to notify police if they have reason to believe that a child pornography offence has been committed using their Internet service. Of course, as we were discussing a moment ago, in that case they are also required by clause 5 to preserve the evidence for 21 days.
The clear intent of clause 10 is to avoid any duplicate reporting under clause 3 when a service provider has already reported the same incident under the laws of a province or of a foreign jurisdiction. However, under the current wording of clause 10, which deems that reporting to be compliance with the act, one could well be saying that this would relieve the provider of its obligation of notifying and of preserving evidence under clauses 4 and 5. That is not the government's intention.
The amendment is intended to replace the reference to the act with reference to section 3 of the act, and only deem that requirement to be satisfied in cases when reporting to a province or a foreign jurisdiction has occurred. That will make clear that it does not relieve the provider of compliance with clauses 4 and 5.