Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - March 2015
7.14 An authorisation or notice to acquire communications data must comply with the
formalities required by section 23(1) to (3) of RIPA 2000. They have a maximum period
of validity of one month (section 23(4)) and may be renewed by the same procedures
under which they were given in the first place (section 23(5)). There are provisions for
cancellation if it is no longer necessary or proportionate to acquire the communications
data.
7.15 Necessity. The mechanism by which a DP may give authority to obtain
communications data requires that person to believe that it is necessary to obtain it for
one or more of the statutory purposes set out in section 22(2) of RIPA 2000. These are:
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in the interests of national security;
for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder;
in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom so far as
those interests are also relevant to the interests of national security;
in the interests of public safety;
for the purpose of protecting public health;
for the purpose of assessing or collecting any tax, duty, levy or other imposition,
contribution or charge payable to a government department;
for the purpose, in an emergency, of preventing death or injury or any damage
to a person’s physical or mental health, or of mitigating any injury or damage
to a person’s physical or mental health; or
for any purpose (not falling within the above which is specified for the
purpose of this subsection by an order made by the Secretary of State – see
paragraph 2.2 of the code of practice and The Regulation of Investigatory
Powers (Communications Data) (Amendment) Order 2015 (SI No. 228) for
these.
7.16 Parliament prescribed restrictions on the statutory purposes for which public
authorities may acquire communications data and also on the type of data that can
be acquired. For example, local authorities can only acquire service use and subscriber
information for the purpose of “preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder.”
7.17 Annex A provides details of the types of data and the statutory purposes under
which each public authority can acquire that data in tabulated form.
7.18 Proportionality. A DP is forbidden from approving an application for
communications data unless he believes that obtaining the data in question, by the
conduct authorised or required, is proportionate to what is sought to be achieved by
so obtaining the data. Thus every application to acquire communications data has to
address proportionality explicitly.
7.19 A judgment whether it is proportionate to authorise the acquisition of
communications data requires holding a balance between (a) the necessity to engage
in potentially intrusive conduct and (b) the anticipated amount and degree of intrusion.
The judgment has to consider whether the information which is sought could reasonably
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