Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - July 2016
9.6
The Regulations (and therefore the Commissioner’s responsibilities under them)
came into effect from 16 June 2011. We have previously published guidance64 in accordance
with the Regulations. The guidance provides information on the circumstances in which
the Commissioner will consider it appropriate to issue a monetary penalty notice, how he
will determine the amount of the penalty and the mechanism for handling complaints.
If a person has reasonable cause to believe their consent relating to the interception of
their communications was not obtained during the provision of such a service they may
seek to make a complaint to the Commissioner under the Regulations. The complaints
process is not the appropriate channel through which adverse comments about the way
CSPs, based within the UK and elsewhere, conduct their business.
9.7
In 2015 we received a number of complaints from members of the public, but
determined that all related to conduct alleged to have been undertaken by public
authorities. We advised those individuals to make a complaint to the IPT which has
exclusive jurisdiction in the UK to hear such complaints.
64 See http://iocco-uk.info/docs/Interception_Commissioner_Guidance_RIPA.pdf
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