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Lord Carter will step down from his role as UK Communications Minister this summer after publishing the full and final Digital Britain report.
"The Prime Minister appointed Stephen Carter as Communications Minister with the specific task of commissioning and producing the Digital Britain report and its follow-up recommendations," read a statement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
“We can confirm that he will step down at summer recess with the completion of his work, as originally intended.”
On Tuesday, Lord Carter will release the Digital Britain report, a comprehensive document set to mark out a path for Britain’s future in the electronic entertainment and service industries.
The document will be filled with new plans for the TV, music, film and telecommunication industries. And, unlike the flaccid interim report, it is set to cover pressing issues surrounding the videogames sector as well.
Digital Britain is expected to declare a new industry standard for game age classification.
Last year’s Byron Review recommended one clear age ratings system, either using the BBFC’s or the PEGI system. Lord Carter’s recommendation of which to chose remains unknown, with little to imply which system he will recommend.
However, it is becoming increasingly likely that the report will mention new proposals to further aid the games industry through tax breaks.
The report will also make final suggestions on how the UK should deal with the ongoing issues surrounding piracy.
It is not thought that Carter will introduce a ‘three strikes’ system based on France’s controversial Hadopi law – whereby known illicit filesharers will be given three written warnings stating that repeated abuse of copyright law will result in a year-long internet disconnection.
Caught between the polarised wishes of the content owners and ISPs, Carter is expected to propose co-operative measures, where ISPs will send out warning letters to repeated illicit filesharers, while content owners will need to meet the demands of consumers more tightly by offering simple and accessible online services, such as Steam.
