Interception

of Communications Act 1985

c. 56

(4) A warrant shall not be considered necessary as mentioned
in subsection (2)(c) above unless the information which it is
considered necessary to acquire is information relating to the
acts or intentions of persons outside the British Islands.
(5) References in the following provisions of this Act to a
warrant are references to a warrant under this section.

3.-(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, the interception re- Scope of
warrants.
quired by a warrant shall be the interception
(a) such communications as are sent to or from one or
more addresses specified in the warrant, being an
address or addresses likely to be used for the transmission of communications to or from(i) one particular person specified or described in
the warrant ; or
(ii) one particular set of premises so specified or

of-

described ; and

(if any) as it is necessary to
intercept in order to intercept communications falling
within paragraph (a) above.

(b) such other communications

(a)

if-

not apply to a warrant
the interception required by the warrant is the interception, in the course of their transmission by means of
a public telecommunication system, of-

(2) Subsection (1) above shall

(i) such external communications as are described

in the warrant ; and
(ii) such other communications (if any) as it is
necessary to intercept in order to intercept such external communications as are so described ; and
(b) at the time when the warrant is issued, the Secretary of
State issues a certificate certifying the descriptions of
intercepted material the examination of which he considers necessary as mentioned in section 2(2) above.
(3) A certificate such as is mentioned in subsection (2) above
shall not specify an address in the British Islands for the purpose
of including communications sent to or from that address in the
certified material unless(a) the Secretary of State considers that the examination
of communications sent to or from that address is
necessary for the purpose of preventing or detecting
acts of terrorism ; and
(b) communications sent to or from that address are included in the certified material only in so far as they
are sent within such a period, not exceeding three
months, as is specified in the certificate.

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