1. Pursuant to Section 56 of the National Security Act, the national security services may,
subject to “extrinsic authorization,” search homes, take samples of and record by technical
means anything they find, open private mail and sealed packages, accessing and recording
the contents thereof, intercept and record electronic communications, access and record
data forwarded by means of or stored on computers.
The national security services must file a request for that external authorization, specifying
the location where the covert intelligence will be collected, the name(s) of the targeted
person(s), any identification data if available, the title of the covert intelligence, an
explanation of the necessity thereof, as well as the starting and ending dates of the action.
Section 58 of the National Security Act provides that “In the course of the fulfillment of
the national security tasks […], the authorization for intelligence gathering shall be granted
by the judge appointed by the President of the Metropolitan Court for this duty.” For all
other tasks, the intelligence is authorized by the Minister of Justice. The law also provides
that the judge or the Minister of Justice (hereinafter collectively: “authorizer”) must decide
on the request in 72 hours of the time of submission, allowing the request or, if finding it to
be without grounds, turning it down. No appeal shall lie against this decision. The
intelligence may be authorized for a period of up to 90 days per case, with the possibility
of a single extension for another 90 days if deemed justified. Furthermore, if the authorizer
is a judge, in contemplating the decision regarding the extension he has the power to access
the data collected and recorded in the course of the intelligence he has initially authorized.
The minister is not entitled to do this, so he has less information to rely on in deciding
upon the extension. Finally, the law provides that the authorizer shall not notify affected
subjects of the procedure or indeed of the fact that intelligence has been collected on them.
2. Pursuant to 7/E of the Police Act, which was incorporated by Section 8 of Act CCVII of
2011 and has been in force since January 5, 2011, the counter-terrorism organization is, in
certain cases, subject to different rules than the police in collecting covert intelligence.
Within the meaning of the Police Act, the counter-terrorism outfit is part of the police but
operates within the framework of its own separate organization, reports to the minister
responsible for law enforcement instead of the national police chief, and has its director
general appointed by the Prime Minister. Likewise, its duties are distinct from those of the
police; for instance, it does not exercise investigative powers on its own. Instead, its
mission is to prevent crimes, capture perpetrators, as well as keep individuals and objects
under surveillance and protection.
The law authorizes the counter-terrorism organization to collect covert intelligence as part
of performing its specific functions. As a rule of thumb, this activity is subject to the same
rules that govern intelligence gathering by the police [Police Act, Section 7/E (2)].
However, when the task is associated with counter-terrorism, armed conflict, or protecting
the lives and bodily integrity of citizens in distress abroad due to acts of terrorism, the
gathering of intelligence in such connections is no longer subject to the provisions of the
Police Act but to the rules applicable to the national security services [Police Act, Section
7/E (3)]. Like the National Security Act, the Police Act makes it possible to search homes,
take samples of and record by technical devices anything found upon the premises, open
private mail and sealed packages, accessing and recording the contents thereof, intercept