• Is necessary for facilitating the carrying out of the functions of the
Secretary of State under Chapter I of Part I of RIPA;
• Is necessary for facilitating the carrying out of any functions of the
Interception of Communications Commissioner or the Tribunal;
• Is necessary to ensure that a person conducting a criminal
prosecution has the information needed to determine what is
required of him or her by his or her duty to secure the fairness of
the prosecution; or
• Is necessary for the performance of any duty imposed by the Public
Record Acts.
Dissemination of intercepted material
7.3. The number of persons to whom any of the intercepted material
is disclosed, and the extent of disclosure, is limited to the minimum
that is necessary for the authorised purposes set out in section 15(4)
of RIPA. This obligation applies equally to disclosure to additional
persons within an agency, and to disclosure outside the agency. It is
enforced by prohibiting disclosure to persons who have not been
appropriately vetted and also by the need-to-know principle:
intercepted material must not be disclosed to any person unless that
person’s duties, which must relate to one of the authorised purposes,
are such that he or she needs to know about the intercepted material
to carry out those duties. In the same way, only so much of the
intercepted material may be disclosed as the recipient needs. For
example, if a summary of the intercepted material will suffice, no
more than that should be disclosed.
7.4. The obligations apply not just to the original interceptor, but
also to anyone to whom the intercepted material is subsequently
disclosed. In some cases this will be achieved by requiring the latter to
obtain the originator’s permission before disclosing the intercepted
material further. In others, explicit safeguards are applied to
secondary recipients.
7.5. Where intercepted material is disclosed to the authorities of a
country or territory outside the UK, the agency must take reasonable
steps to ensure that the authorities in question have and will maintain
the necessary procedures to safeguard the intercepted material, and to
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