26
ROMAN ZAKHAROV v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT
the Communications Act. The Supreme Court therefore found that
paragraph 2.6 was unlawful and inapplicable.
129. On 25 October 2000 the Ministry of Communications amended
Order no. 130 by repealing paragraph 2.6.
130. In reply to a request for information by the NGO Civilian Control,
the Ministry of Communications stated, in a letter dated 20 August 2006,
that the repealing of paragraph 2.6 of Order no. 130 did not mean that
communications service providers had to be informed of operational-search
measures in respect of a subscriber or be provided with a copy of the
relevant decision granting judicial authorisation for such surveillance.
131. Order no. 130 was repealed on 16 January 2008 (see paragraph 134
below).
(c) Order no. 538
132. Order no. 538 on cooperation between communications service
providers and law-enforcement agencies, issued by the government on
27 August 2005, provides that communications service providers must be
diligent in updating databases containing information about subscribers and
the services provided to them. That information must be stored for three
years. Law-enforcement agencies must have remote access to the databases
at all times (paragraph 12).
133. Databases must contain the following information about
subscribers: (a) first name, patronymic and family name, home address and
passport number for natural persons; (b) company name, address and list of
persons having access to the terminal equipment with their names,
patronymics and family names, home addresses and passport numbers for
legal persons; (c) information about connections, traffic and payments
(paragraph 14).
(d) Order no. 6
134. Order no. 6 on requirements for telecommunications networks
concerning the conduct of operational-search activities, Part I, issued by the
Ministry of Communications on 16 January 2008, replaced Order no. 130.
135. It retained the requirement that communications service providers
had to ensure transmission to the relevant law-enforcement agency’s remote
terminal of information about (a) subscribers’ numbers and identification
codes, and (b) the contents of their communications. The information must
be transmitted in real time following a request from the remote terminal.
Communications service providers must also ensure that the subscriber’s
location is identified (paragraphs 2, 3 and 5).
136. The remote terminal must have access to databases containing
information about subscribers, including their numbers and identification
codes (paragraphs 7 and 8).