CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
(b)
The safeguards on the use of those powers must be sufficiently strong not only
to satisfy public opinion in the UK, but to persuade governments and overseas
service providers (including particularly in the USA) that they can and should
cooperate with requests for information.
(c)
For as long as the UK accepts the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human
Rights [ECtHR] and CJEU, its law must conform to the principles of their
jurisprudence, with its strong emphasis on the protection of private
communications, as well as to the constraints of international law.
(d)
Whatever solution the UK arrives at may well be influential in other countries.
Nothing should be proposed for the UK that would not be accepted if it were
adopted by other democratic nations.
Scope of the Review
Definition of investigatory powers
1.10.
The “investigatory powers” that I am required to review are not defined in DRIPA 2014,
nor even in the central piece of legislation in this area: the Regulation of Investigatory
Powers Act 2000 [RIPA]. It might have been legitimate to understand the phrase as
encompassing the full range of such powers, including directed and intrusive
surveillance (tailing, bugging), property interference and the use of covert human
intelligence sources [CHIS]. The concept might even be extended further, to cover
surveillance cameras and DNA databases.
1.11.
I have however approached the task with regard to my initial Terms of Reference,
issued in July 2014, which define the objective of the Review as being
“[t]o review the use of legislation governing the use of communications data
and interception ...”,
with regard among other things to “the effectiveness of current statutory oversight
arrangements”.16 The Security Minister confirmed during the passage of the Bill that
this was the intended scope of the Review.17 Interception and communications data
are governed by RIPA Part I; RIPA Part IV covers codes of practice and scrutiny by
Commissioners and by the IPT. Those are the subjects I have covered in this Review,
though by reference also to statutes other than RIPA, and with an eye to the
comparisons presented by other types of surveillance and spying powers, particularly
when they are used for similar purposes, as for example CNE may be. Some of my
recommendations, if adopted, will affect such powers.
16
17
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/330749/Review_of_Co
mmunications_Data_and_Interception_Powers_Terms_of_Reference.pdf.
Hansard HC Debs 15 July 2014 cols 804, 806.
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