Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - March 2015
Section 5 DRIPA. The definition of “telecommunications service”.
5.22
The original definition within section 2(1) of RIPA stated that “telecommunications service” means any service that consists in the provision
of access to, and of facilities for making use of, any telecommunication system
(whether or not one provided by the person providing the service).
5.23 Section 5 of DRIPA 2014 inserted a new subsection into section 2 of RIPA, (8A), to
make clear that the definition of “telecommunications service” includes companies that
provide internet-based services, such as webmail. The following text is now included after
section 2(8) RIPA 2000 “(8A) For the purposes of the definition of “telecommunications service” in
subsection (1), the cases in which a service is to be taken to consist in the
provision of access to, and of facilities for making use of, a telecommunication
system include any case where a service consists in or includes facilitating the
creation, management or storage of communications transmitted, or that may
be transmitted, by means of such a system.”
5.24 One of the consequences of the change to the definition is that it clarifies the
telecommunication services that are covered by Part I of RIPA so that it is more difficult
for companies who provide internet-based services, such as webmail, to argue that they
are not caught by RIPA 2000.
5.25 I can report that the change to the definition does not appear in practice to have
resulted in an extension of powers.
Section 6 DRIPA. Requirements for half-yearly reports by the Interception of
Communications Commissioner
5.26 Section 6 of DRIPA 2014 amends RIPA 2000 by requiring half-yearly reports by
the Interception of Communications Commissioner. The timing of the reports is as soon
as is practicable after the end of each calendar year and after the end of the period of six
months beginning with the end of the calendar year. As such the timing of my first report
post DRIPA coincided with the timing that my next annual report would have been due
anyhow.
5.27 It is important to set out that our intention is to continue to report the statistical
information relating to the use of the powers and the findings from our inspections on
an annual basis (in the first report of each year). This is because the statistical information
takes two months to collate and analyse and it would be futile to complete that exercise
twice-yearly and, our inspections of the larger volume users of communications data
powers occur on an annual basis so reporting the findings and recommendations of
these inspections twice-yearly would provide an incomplete picture which could serve to
mislead. Section 3 of this report has already described that my office has been publishing
www.iocco-uk.info
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