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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to allow (a) the police and (b) other regulatory or investigatory agencies of the state to intercept the e-mails and internet communications to internet websites of private individuals; and if he will make a statement. [62053] Mr. Blunkett: Authority to intercept communications can only be given by the Secretary of State personally. Where the warrant is the result of a request for assistance made under an international mutual assistance agreement and where the subject or premises to which the interception relates appear to be outside the United Kingdom, authority may be given by a senior official. Such authority can only be given to those persons specified in Section 6(2) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. They are: the Director-General of the Security Service; the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service; the Director of the Government Communications Head Quarters; the Director-General of the National Criminal Intelligence Service; the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis; the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (now the Police Service of Northern Ireland); the chief constable of any police force maintained under or by virtue of section 1 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967; the Commissioners of Customs and Excise; the Chief of Defence Intelligence; and a person who, for the purposes of any international mutual assistance agreement, is the competent authority of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom. Authority can only be given where the Secretary of State is satisfied that the interception is necessary: (a) in the interests of national security; (b) for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime; (c) for the purpose of safeguarding the economic well being of the United Kingdom; (d) in circumstances where he would issue a warrant under (b) above, to give effect to an international mutual legal assistance agreement. The interception of communications is subject to oversight by the Interception of Communications Commissioner. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Interception of Communications: Code of Practice) Order 2002 was laid before Parliament on 8 May 2002. The Code of Practice sets out in further detail the procedure, safeguards and oversight regimes governing the lawful interception of communications in the United Kingdom.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

388 c531-3W;388 c529-31W; 62053

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Internet Email Monitoring Telecommunications

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk