BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
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human error, such as incorrect transposition of information from an
application to an authorisation or notice where communications data is not
acquired or disclosed.
6.18. Reporting and recording of errors will draw attention to those aspects of the
process of acquisition and disclosure of communications data that require further
improvement to eliminate errors and the risk of undue interference with any
individual’s rights.
6.19. When a reportable error has been made, the public authority which made the
error, or established that the error had been made, must establish the facts and report
the error to the authority’s senior responsible officer and then to the IOCCO within no
more than five working days of the error being discovered. All errors should be
reported as they arise. If the report relates to an error made by a CSP, the public
authority should also inform the CSP and IOCCO of the report in written or electronic
form. This will enable the CSP and IOCCO to investigate the cause or causes of the
reported error.
6.20. The report sent to the IOCCO by a public authority in relation to a reportable
error must include details of the error, identified by the public authority’s unique
reference number of the relevant authorisation or notice, explain how the error
occurred, indicate whether any unintended collateral intrusion has taken place and
provide an indication of what steps have been, or will be, taken to ensure that a similar
error does not recur. When a public authority reports an error made by a CSP, the
report must include details of the error and indicate whether the CSP has been
informed or not (in which case the public authority must explain why the CSP has not
been informed of the report).
6.21. Where a CSP discloses communications data in error, it must report each error
to the IOCCO within no more than five working days of the error being discovered. It
is appropriate for a person holding a suitably senior position within a CSP to do so,
identifying the error by reference to the public authority’s unique reference number
and providing an indication of what steps have been, or will be, taken to ensure that a
similar error does not recur. Errors by service providers could include responding to a
notice by disclosing incorrect data or by disclosing the required data to the wrong
public authority.
6.22. In circumstances where a reportable error is deemed to be of a serious nature,
the Commissioner may investigate the circumstances that led to the error and assess
the impact of the interference on the affected individual’s rights. The Commissioner
may inform the affected individual, who may make a complaint to the Investigatory
Powers Tribunal (see section 9).
6.23. The records kept by a public authority accounting for recordable errors must
include details of the error, explain how the error occurred and provide an indication
of what steps have been, or will be, taken to ensure that a similar error does not
reoccur. The authority’s senior responsible officer must undertake a regular review of
the recording of such errors.
6.24. Where material which has no connection or relevance to any investigation or
operation undertaken by the public authority receiving it is disclosed in error by a
CSP, that material and any copy of it (including copies contained in or as attachments
in electronic mail) should be destroyed as soon as the report to the Commissioner has
been made.
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