CHAPTER 6: POWERS AND SAFEGUARDS
downloaded is kept for much longer periods, pursuant to management of police
information guidelines.22
Other non-RIPA powers
6.16.
There are a number of other statutes that grant powers to public authorities and law
enforcement agencies to interfere with telecommunications in some sense. One of the
more important of those powers is set out in the Telecommunications Act 1984 [TA
1984] s94. Section 94 grants the Secretary of State a power to give “directions of a
general character” to an individual, to the extent that they are “necessary in the
interests of national security or relations with the government of a country or territory
outside the United Kingdom.” The Secretary of State must consider that the content
of the direction is proportionate to the objective sought.
6.17.
The backdrop to s94 is the breakup of BT’s monopoly of the telecoms market. The
power to give directions was drafted into the Act that privatised the market. It is very
broad in nature and imposes no limit the kinds of direction that may be given. There
is nothing in the public domain concerning the use of that power and the exercise of
the s94 power is not subject to any oversight or external supervision. In March 2015,
the Interception of Communications Commissioner [IOCC] agreed formally to oversee
directions under the TA 1984 s94, a task which he anticipated would require “extra
staff (and possibly technical facilities)”.23
6.18.
A number of public authorities are also authorised to gather (or require the gathering
of) data that may include communications data or communications data itself. A table
of those public authorities has been provided to me by the Home Office and is located
at Annex 6 to this Report. That list is not warranted to be comprehensive or up to date.
But it is indicative, at least, of the wide range of powers available to a significant
number of public authorities. It covers 46 different bodies that may require the
production of data or communications data via 65 different statutory mechanisms. By
way of example, the list identifies that the Department for Business Innovation and
Skills may secure access to such data under:
22
23
(a)
the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008;
(b)
the Companies Act 1985;
(c)
the Consumer Credit Acts 1974 and 1985;
(d)
the Consumer Protection Act 1987;
(e)
consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008;
(f)
the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1974 and 1988;
(g)
the Enterprise Act 2002.
See D. Anderson, The Terrorism Acts in 2013, July 2014, Annex 2 and Annex 3.
IOCC Report, (March 2015), para 10.4.
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