Press Complaints Commission to shut down in wake of phone hacking scandal

An accelerated shutdown of the body was "unanimously agreed in principle" at a Committee meeting last month and received formal approval on Thursday. The replacement regulator will take over all assets, liabilities and staff of the PCC.

"The Commission agreed that there should be ongoing dialogue with Lord Justice Leveson's team throughout the proposed transitional phase," the PCC said in a statement. It has not yet been confirmed when the existing arrangement will cease to operate.

The PCC was widely criticised and described by some as "toothless" in the wake of the UK phone hacking scandal, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying it had "failed" to regulate the press properly.

The UK press is currently self-regulated by industry representatives under rules set out in the Editors' Code of Practice. The Code is a set of standards journalists should observe when reporting and includes rules on accuracy, intrusion into grief and privacy and secret recordings.

The PCC can 'name and shame' publications that break the Code and ask them to publish apologies, but it has no legal powers to enforce punishments such as fines for violations. Additionally there is no requirement for newspaper groups to subscribe to the standards. Currently the Express Group, which publishes major newspapers including the Daily Express and Daily Star, is not subscribed to the Code.

An independent inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press, led by Lord Justice Leveson, was announced last July following allegations of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World newspaper. The Leveson Inquiry will ultimately make recommendations for "more effective policy and regulation" of the press. It intends that these recommendations will "support the integrity and freedom" of the press while encouraging the "highest ethical standards".

The long-term replacement for the PCC is not expected to be up and running for at least a year, according to the Guardian newspaper, and may take even longer if plans to create a legally binding arbitration unit are followed through.

Giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in January, PCC chairman Lord Hunt said that industry had endorsed plans for a new regulator. This regulator would have two "arms": one dealing with complaints and mediation and a separate arm with auditory and enforcement powers.

Under the proposed system, publishers would have to sign a contract committing them to "cooperating fully with any standards investigation that takes place, including the provision of papers and witnesses, and to paying for the investigation if systemic failures are uncovered". A named individual within each publication would also have to carry out annual compliance audits.

"Such contracts would give the new Authority the 'teeth' the PCC lacks," Lord Hunt said in a statement.