PCC
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has confirmed its imminent closure PCC

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has confirmed its imminent closure, following widespread criticism over the News International phone hacking scandal.

A transition date to a new regulatory body or name for it have not been set. It will continue to cooperate with the Leveson Inquiry into jouranlistic ethics set up in the wake of the scandal.

A spokesman said: "Following detailed discussion, there was unanimous agreement in principle to the proposal that the PCC should move to a new regulatory body designed along the lines proposed by the reform committee and endorsed by the industry."

Lord Hunt, the commission's chairman, said in February that the PCC would "in principle move to a new body".

"We're very much now on the front foot and listening to all sides and determined to bring forward the sort of independent self-regulatory structure that everyone will approve of," he said.

The new body would deal with complaints and mediation and a separate armwould enforce standards and compliance in line with the editors' code, he explained.

"There would be much greater emphasis on self-regulation, with a named individual carrying personal responsibility for compliance at each and every one of the publishers and those responsible for newspapers and magazines," said Hunt.

The National Union of Journalists' (NUJ) general secretary Michelle Stanistreet greeted the announcement with warmth.

She told Journalism.co.uk: "We are pleased that its closure has been announced.

"The NUJ does not believe that a rebranding - the PCC Mark 2 often referred to - would do anything other than repeat all the past mistakes that have been made.

"It would do nothing to introduce the wholesale cultural shift that is necessary within the press to bring ethics and a natural compliance with the law to the forefront of all news-gathering."

The PCC has come under widespread criticism following the hacking scandal with leader of the Labour party, Ed Miliband, calling it a "toothless poodle".