BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
161
communications because they cannot be obtained under the existing
warrant, and it is necessary and proportionate for the intercepting agency to
obtain those communications. A RIPA interception warrant means either a
section 8(1) warrant in relation to the subject at issue; a section 8(4) warrant
and an accompanying certificate which includes one or more “descriptions
of intercepted material” covering the subject’s communications; or, where
the subject is known to be within the British Islands, a section 8(4) warrant
and an accompanying certificate which includes one or more “descriptions
of intercepted material” covering his or her communications, together with
an appropriate section 16(3) modification.
429. Where exceptional circumstances exist, a request for
communications may be made in the absence of a relevant RIPA
interception warrant only if it does not amount to a deliberate circumvention
of RIPA or otherwise frustrate its objectives (for example, because it is not
technically feasible to obtain the communications via RIPA interception),
and it is necessary and proportionate for the intercepting agency to obtain
those communications. In such a case the request must be considered and
decided on by the Secretary of State personally, and, pursuant to the revised
IC Code, notified to the Interception of Communications Commissioner
(see paragraph 109 above). According to information disclosed during the
Liberty proceedings, and confirmed in the Government’s submissions in the
present case, no request for intercept material has ever been made in the
absence of an existing RIPA warrant.
430. In light of the above considerations, the Court considers that the
circumstances in which the respondent State may request interception or the
conveyance of intercepted material are sufficiently circumscribed in
domestic law to prevent the State from using this power to circumvent
either domestic law or its Convention obligations.
(γ) Procedure to be followed for storing, accessing, examining and using the
material obtained
431. By virtue of section 19(2) of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008
(“CTA” – see paragraph 103), information obtained by any of the
intelligence services in connection with the exercise of any of their
functions may be used in connection with the exercise of any of their other
functions. However, the intelligence services are data controllers for the
purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 and are required to comply with
the data protection principles in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the DPA. While
compliance with these principles is subject to exemption by ministerial
certificate, they cannot be exempted from the obligation to comply with the
fifth and seventh data protection principles, which provide that personal
data processed for any purpose shall not be kept for longer than is necessary
for that purpose; and appropriate technical and organisational measures
shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data