Appendix 4 S.I.
2004/157: memorandum from the Home Office
Regulation of Investigatory Powers
(Conditions for the Lawful Interception of Persons outside the
United Kingdom) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/157)
1. The Committee considered the above
instrument at its meeting on 24th February 2004 and has requested
the Department to submit a memorandum on the following point:
2. In relation to regulation 2(1),
explain-
(a) what steps the Department proposes
to take to inform the public of the actual commencement date of
the Regulations;
3. The Department will write to interested
parties, including communication service providers and intercepting
agencies, to advise them of the commencement date of the Regulations.
The Department will also publish the information on the Home Office
website. This will be done as soon as it is known when the Convention
on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States
of the European Union established by Council Act of 29th May 2000
(2000/C197/01) ("the Convention") will be coming into
force in the United Kingdom.
(b) why the making of the Regulations
was not deferred until the requisite ratifications have taken
place so that the actual commencement date could have been specified.
4. The making of the Regulations was
not deferred until the ratification of the Convention had taken
place because ratification could not take place until the Regulations
had been made. Ratification of the Convention takes place when
a Member State notifies the Secretary-General of the Council of
the European Union of the completion of its constitutional procedures
for the adoption of the Convention (Article 27(2) of the Convention).
The constitutional procedures for the adoption of the Convention
include the making of these Regulations. This is because Article
18 of the Convention requires a requested Member State to provide
technical assistance to a requesting Member State to intercept
the communications of a person on the territory of the requesting
Member State. Communications service providers may only lawfully
provide such assistance if they meet the conditions set out in
section 4(1) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
The conditions include those that are prescribed by regulations
made under section 4(1)(d). The above Regulations prescribe these
conditions. Thus, if the Regulations had not been made, the United
Kingdom would not have been able to make a notification under
Article 27(2) of the Convention.
1st March 2004
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