BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
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H. Relevant international law
1. The United Nations
(a) Resolution no. 68/167 on The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age
202. Resolution no. 68/167, adopted by the General Assembly on
18 December 2013, reads as follows:
“The General Assembly,
...
4. Calls upon all States:
...
(c) To review their procedures, practices and legislation regarding the surveillance
of communications, their interception and the collection of personal data, including
mass surveillance, interception and collection, with a view to upholding the right to
privacy by ensuring the full and effective implementation of all their obligations under
international human rights law;
(d) To establish or maintain existing independent, effective domestic oversight
mechanisms capable of ensuring transparency, as appropriate, and accountability for
State surveillance of communications, their interception and the collection of personal
data ...”
(b) The Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union 1992
203. Articles 33 and 37 of the Constitution provide as follows:
The Right of the Public to Use the International Telecommunication Service
“Member States recognize the right of the public to correspond by means
of the international service of public correspondence. The services, the
charges and the safeguards shall be the same for all users in each category
of correspondence without any priority or preference.
...”
Secrecy of Telecommunications
“1. Member States agree to take all possible measures, compatible with the system
of telecommunication used, with a view to ensuring the secrecy of international
correspondence.
2. Nevertheless, they reserve the right to communicate such
correspondence to the competent authorities in order to ensure the
application of their national laws or the execution of international
conventions to which they are parties.”
(c) The 2006 Annual Report of the International Law Commission
204. In its 2006 Annual Report the ILC proposed to include the topic
“Protection of personal data in the transborder flow of information” in its