The new Licensing Bill has been branded as "heavy-handed" by European officials because of its excessive controls on musicians in pubs.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has considered conflicting arguments from the Musicians' Union and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and has said it is not satisfied with the DCMS's argument that the new bill will make it easier for live music.
The ball is now in the government's court, but the committee's views have been taken very seriously in the past.
The committee's report says the bill is too restrictive because it will not allow musicians to perform unless a pub has a licence. However, it states that it understands the government's intention to impose a less bureaucratic burden on performers.
It says: "We consider that the proposed blanket requirement for all premises to be licensed before any live performance takes place in them, regardless of whether there is a real risk of noise or nuisance, the nature of the performance, the nature of the premises, or the number of performers and spectators, is somewhat heavy-handed."
Government plans to exempt churches and other places of worship also came under fire. Apparently this could also contravene human rights because it discriminates between people who are religious and those who aren't.
"This apparently random exemption for places of religious worship might tend to undermine the argument for the rationality of the blanket licensing scheme as a whole, and could engage other human rights issues by appearing to discriminate against occupiers and users of non-religious premises," the report said.
Hamish Birchall, co-founder of the Campaign for Live Music, said he hoped this could mean some changes for the Licensing Bill. "This could be significant but it depends on the government's willingness to compromise," he said.
A DCMS spokesperson said: "The committee's report covers complex issues. We will consider our response to their specific concerns once we have studied it in detail.
"However, the Licensing Bill is about streamlining an archaic system with common sense. As our amendment on churches proves, we are prepared to listen and will therefore give full consideration to the committee's conclusions."
Related articles:
Musicians unite against Licensing Bill proposal (31 January 2003)