Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - March 2015
Section 6
Interception of Communications
6.1
In this section I shall provide an outline of the interception legislation, give details
of the interception inspection regime, provide statistical information about the use of
interception powers and outline the key findings from my office’s inspections.
6.2
Prior to doing that, I think it worth pointing out that my office is constrained by
the statutory secrecy provisions in section 19 of RIPA 2000 forbidding disclosure of certain
aspects of interception, for example, the existence and contents of a warrant and of any
section 8(4) certificate in relation to a warrant; the steps taken in pursuance of a warrant;
everything in the intercepted material, together with any related communications data
etc. This does make transparency challenging in this area of our work.
6.3
For those who want to know more about the technical infrastructure requirements,
operational requirements, and hand-over interfaces relating to interception a significant
amount of information is published by the European Telecommunications Standards
Institute19.
Applications for Interception Warrants
6.4
Part I of RIPA 2000 provides that the interception of communications can
be authorised with a warrant issued by the Secretary of State under section 5(1). The
conduct authorised by an interception warrant includes any conduct necessary to obtain
the content of the communication and any related communications data (as defined in
section 20 and Chapter II of Part I RIPA 2000).
6.5
Applicant. An interception warrant cannot be issued except in response to an
application made by or on behalf of the persons listed in section 6(2) of RIPA 2000, who
are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
the Director General of the Security Service (MI5);
the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS);
the Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ);
the Director General of the National Crime Agency (NCA);
the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police;
the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI);
the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland;
the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC);
the Chief of Defence Intelligence.
6.6
Secretaries of State. Interception warrants have to be authorised personally by a
Secretary of State (sections 5(1) and 7(1)(a)). He or she has to sign the warrant personally,
or in an urgent case to authorise the issue of a warrant signed by a Senior Official (section
19 See http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/security/lawful-interception and also http://
www.europarl.europa.eu/hearings/20000222/libe/framework/eplegs/default_en.htm#UK
www.iocco-uk.info
19