CHAPTER 12: CIVIL SOCIETY
12.96. Future-proofing is far from easy, although suggestions include:
(a)
a statutory requirement to review the law at regular intervals;
(b)
sunset clauses in legislation (in which the legislation expires following a certain
period, as in the case of DRIPA 2014);
(c)
a requirement to publish up-to-date and detailed Codes of Practice at regular
intervals; and
(d)
the grant of specific powers and the outlawing of other powers such that for any
further powers to be exercised they have to be specifically authorised.
12.97. Some placed their faith in the parliamentary system to ensure future-proofing. One
suggestion was to develop standing committees to review (all) Acts of Parliament to
ensure that they are technologically relevant and robust, or likewise to review all
security measures to ensure compliance with human rights law. Similarly, the
Information Commissioner has himself noted that when passing legislation which
impinges on privacy norms that there should be published a privacy impact
assessment, or Commissioners should be permitted to publish a report.118 He also
recommended the report back to Parliament on how authorised measures have been
deployed including evidence of the extent to which the expected benefits and risks
have been realised.
118
Information Commissioner’s Report to Parliament on the State of Surveillance, (2010).
243