Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - 2016
These figures do not capture the critical quality assurance function initially carried out by
the staff and lawyers within the intercepting agency or the warrant-granting department.
Based on my inspections, I am confident that the low number of rejections reflects the
careful consideration given to the use of these powers. Indeed, it is not uncommon to
find intercepting agencies making conservative assumptions about what a Secretary of
State is likely to approve.
The total number of warrants in force on 31 December 2016 was 1,602 – a 5.5% increase
on 2015. Of the 1,602 warrants in force on 31 December 2016, 13 were issued under
section 8(4). Some of the 1,602 warrants were first authorised before 2016 but the vast
majority of interception warrants do not run for longer than six months.
Inspection Regime
Objectives of Inspections. IOCCO’s interception inspections are structured to scrutinise
the key areas covered by Chapter 1 of Part 1 of RIPA and the Code of Practice for the
Interception of Communications. Whereas many communications data inspections are
carried out by my inspectors, I participate directly in nearly all interception inspections.
A typical inspection of an interception agency will include the following:
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a review of the action points or recommendations from the previous inspection
and their implementation;
an evaluation of the systems in place for the interception of communications
to ensure they are sufficient for the purposes of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of RIPA
and that all relevant records have been kept;
the examination of selected interception applications to assess whether they
were necessary in the first instance and then whether the requests met the
necessity and proportionality requirements;
interviews with case officers, analysts and/or linguists from selected
investigations or operations to assess whether the interception and the
justifications for acquiring all of the material were proportionate;
the examination of any urgent oral approvals to check that the process was
justified and used appropriately;
a review of those cases where communications subject to legal privilege or
otherwise confidential information (i.e. confidential journalistic, or confidential
medical) have been intercepted and retained, and any cases where a lawyer is
the subject of an investigation;
a review of the adequacy of the safeguards and arrangements under sections
15 and 16 of RIPA;
an investigation of the procedures in place for the retention, storage and
destruction of intercepted material and related communications data; and
a review of the errors reported, including checking that the measures put in
place to prevent recurrence are sufficient.
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