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62-565: The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ( c. 23 ) ( RIP or RIPA ) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covering the interception of communications . It was introduced by the Tony Blair Labour government ostensibly to take account of technological change such as the growth of

124-508: A criminal offence if a dog defecates at any time on designated land and a person who is in charge of the dog at that time fails to remove the faeces from the land forthwith. It was repealed by Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 section 65, and replaced by similar legislation in the same act. The Act applied only in England and Wales . It was not regulated in Scotland until the passing of

186-784: A family. Although the Council invoked powers under RIPA to establish whether a family fell into a certain school catchment area, when taken before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal it was found guilty of improper use of surveillance powers. In October 2020 the Government introduced the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill which would permit, in certain circumstances, to authorise security, intelligence and police agencies to participate in criminal conduct during their operations. This Bill would amend

248-506: A journalist was acting in the public interest, they would be protected, he added. Hughes further said that if the police made an application to a court he would assume a journalist would be informed that the authorities were seeking to access his phone records. More than 100,000 RIPA requests are made every year for access to communications data against targets including private citizens. It is not known how many have involved journalists' phones. A number of offences have been prosecuted involving

310-504: A letter to the leaders of every council in England, urging local governments not to use the new powers granted by RIPA "for trivial matters", and suggested "reviewing these powers annually by an appropriate scrutiny committee". Especially contentious was Part III of the Act, which requires persons to (allegedly) self-incriminate by disclosing a password to government representatives. Failure to do so

372-533: A particular school catchment area. Council officials carried out directed surveillance on the family a total of 21 times. Tim Martin, the council's head of legal services, had authorised the surveillance and tried to argue that it was justified under RIPA, but in a subsequent ruling by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal – its first ever ruling – the surveillance was deemed to be unlawful. The same council put fishermen under covert surveillance to check for

434-459: A police investigation into a child exploitation network, was sentenced, at Preston Crown Court, to four months' imprisonment. Mr Drage was arrested in May 2009, after investigating officers searched his home near Blackpool. He had been required, under this act, to provide his 50-character encryption key but had not complied. In a further case in 2010 Poole Borough Council was accused of spying unfairly on

496-490: A private detective were also jailed for their part in running a private detective agency called Active Investigation Services. In 2008, four people were cautioned for 'Unlawful intercepting of a postal, public or private telecommunications scheme', under ss. 1(1), (2) and (7). The circumstances of the offences are not known at the time of writing. Three people were tried for 'Failure to disclose key to protected information' under s. 53 (of which 2 were tried). One person

558-459: A section or other portion of another Act by number or letter, the reference shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be read as referring- Section 19(1)(b) refers to the edition commonly known as The Statutes of the Realm . Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 The Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . The purpose of the Act was to create

620-424: A senior officer rather than the formal approval of a court hearing. Media lawyers and press freedom groups are concerned by the use of RIPA because it happens in secret and the press have no way of knowing whether their sources have been compromised. Responding to The Sun's complaint Sir Paul Kennedy, the interception of communications commissioner, launched a full inquiry and urged Home Office ministers to accelerate

682-571: A short title. An example of an incorrect citation as a result of this can be found in regulation 3 of the Cremation (Amendment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/92). Reference is made to "the Regulations as to Cremation (1930)", but the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments , the body which oversees SI drafting, noted that the correct way to cite these regulations would have been, "the Regulations made by

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744-442: A sophisticated criminal surveillance business organised by corrupt police officers. A former Metropolitan Police officer, Jeremy Young, was jailed for 27 months for various offences including six counts of conspiracy to intercept communications unlawfully. A second former policeman, Scott Gelsthorpe, was sentenced to 24 months for offences including conspiracy to intercept communications unlawfully. Three other former police officers and

806-551: Is a criminal offence, with a penalty of two years in prison or five years in cases involving national security or child indecency. Using the mechanism of secondary legislation , some parts of the Act required activation by a ministerial order before attaining legal force. Such orders have been made in respect of the relevant sections of Part I and Part II of the RIP Act and Part III. The latter became active in October 2007. The first case where

868-553: Is called a section (abbreviated "s.", plural "ss."). Each section has a distinct number, in continual sequence from "s. 1" (section one) onwards. If a section is subdivided or has subordinate elements, then these are known as subsections, each of which has a bracketed number; e.g., "s. 1(4)" is subsection 4 of section 1. Subsections are subdivided in turn into paragraphs, which are identified by an italicised letter; e.g., "s. 1(4)( c )". Subparagraphs are identified with lower-case Roman numerals; e.g., "s. 1(4)( c )(viii)". The section sign

930-441: Is not used in citation. In schedules to an Act of Parliament, each distinct numbered element is called a paragraph (abbreviated "para."), which is subdivided in turn into subparagraphs. The sections within a lengthy or complex Act are sometimes grouped together for convenience to form a Part . A "Part" may in turn be subdivided into "chapters". Other groupings are occasionally found as well. When an amendment to an Act requires

992-413: Is permitted vary with each authority. Refer to the legislation for more specific information. The reasons for which the use of directed surveillance is permitted vary with each authority. Refer to the legislation for more specific information. Critics claim that the spectres of terrorism , internet crime and paedophilia were used to push the act through and that there was little substantive debate in

1054-600: Is separately numbered, with the numbering resuming from "No. 1" at the start of each calendar year; thus the Radioactive Substances Exemption (Scotland) Order 2011 is cited as "SSI 2011 No. 147", or more simply as SSI 2011/147. Acts of Sederunt made by the Court of Session or Acts of Adjournal made by the High Court of Justiciary are numbered as Scottish statutory instrument. A statutory instrument made by

1116-635: Is that the Act requires sufficiently large UK internet service providers to install technical systems to assist law enforcement agencies with interception activity. Although this equipment must be installed at the ISPs' expense, RIPA does provide that Parliament will examine appropriate funding for ISPs if the cost burden became unfairly high. In April 2008, it became known that council officials in Poole put three children and their parents under surveillance, at home and in their daily movements, to check whether they lived in

1178-489: The 2 of Eliz. 2 – is an Arabic rather than a Roman numeral , although historically this was not the case. Earlier practice was to specify the parliamentary session by the year in which it started only – and sometimes to date its Acts accordingly. So, for example, the Adventurers' Act was passed by the session 16 Cha. 1 in 1642 and is cited as 16 Cha. 1 . c. 33. That session began in 1640. In consequence

1240-566: The Acts of Parliament Numbering and Citation Act 1962 are not by calendar year, but instead by the year(s) of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session was held; thus the Jamaica Independence Act 1962 is cited as " 10 & 11 Eliz. 2 . c. 40", meaning the 40th Act passed during the session that started in the 10th year of the reign of Elizabeth II and which finished in the 11th year of that reign. The regnal numeral –

1302-748: The House of Commons . The act has numerous critics, many of whom regard the RIPA regulations as excessive and a threat to civil liberties in the UK. Campaign group Big Brother Watch published a report in 2010 investigating the improper use of RIPA by local councils. Critics such as Keith Vaz , the chairman of the House of Commons home affairs committee, have expressed concern that the act is being abused for "petty and vindictive" cases. Similarly, Brian Binley , Member of Parliament (MP) for Northampton South , has urged councils to stop using

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1364-535: The Internet and strong encryption . The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 9 February 2000 and completed its Parliamentary passage on 26 July. Following a public consultation and Parliamentary debate, Parliament approved new additions in December 2003, April 2005, July 2006 and February 2010. A draft bill was put before Parliament during 4 November 2015. RIPA regulates

1426-573: The Northern Ireland Negotiations (Referendum) Order 1998 is cited as "SI 1998 No. 1126", or more simply as "SI 1998/1126". Commencement orders are also numbered separately as part of a "C." sub-series; this number is appended to the main number. Statutory Instruments relating to Scotland were similarly numbered as part of an "S." sub-series until the series of Scottish statutory instruments began (for which, see below ). The system for statutory rules and orders in place from 1894 to 1947

1488-456: The Parliament of Great Britain or the Parliament of Ireland . Similarly, the Parliament of Great Britain came into being on 1 May 1707 ( OS ); before that date, legislation was passed either by the Parliament of England or the Parliament of Scotland . Acts passed by each of these parliaments, except for the Parliament of Scotland, are cited in the same way as pre-1963 Acts of the Parliament of

1550-412: The Parliament of the United Kingdom ("Westminster") is known as an Act of Parliament . Each modern Act of Parliament has a title (also known as a " long title ") and a short title . A short title provides a convenient name for referring to an individual Act, such as " Jamaica Independence Act 1962 ". The long title is more comprehensive in scope, providing a sometimes very detailed description of

1612-679: The Welsh Government is called a Wales statutory instrument . Each of these is numbered as part of the sequence of UK SIs but is also numbered separately as part of a "W." series, with the numbering resuming from "W. 1" at the start of each calendar year. Thus, the Isle of Anglesey (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2012 is cited as "SI 2012 No. 2676 (W. 290)" (" OS 2012 Rhif 2676 (Cy. 290) in Welsh). Statutory instruments made by Order in Council as primary legislation for Northern Ireland are numbered as part of

1674-649: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 is "2011 nawm 1" (" 2011 mccc 1 " in Welsh). Acts of the National Assembly for Wales (2012–2020) are cited by calendar year and acronymic "anaw" number; e.g. the National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012 is "2012 anaw 1" (" 2012 dccc 1 " in Welsh). Acts of the Senedd Cymru (2020–) are cited by calendar year and acronymic "asc" number; e.g.

1736-696: The Wild Animals and Circuses (Wales) Act 2020 is "2020 asc 2" (" 2020 dsc 2 " in Welsh). Measures passed by the General Synod of the Church of England (formerly the Church Assembly) follow the numbering conventions used for Westminster legislation, except that each Measure has a "Number" rather than a chapter number. For example, the New Parishes Measure 1943 is cited as "6 & 7 Geo. 6 No. 1". With

1798-526: The "Plebgate" affair. The Sun's complaint coincided with confirmation that the phone records of the news editor of the Mail on Sunday and one of its freelance journalists had also been obtained by Kent police force when they investigated Chris Huhne's speeding fraud. Journalists' sources are usually agreed to be privileged and protected from disclosure under European laws with which the UK complies. However, by using RIPA an investigating office just needs approval from

1860-437: The (notional) statute book . Since 1 January 1963, chapter numbers in each series are organised by calendar year . The first public general Act passed in a year is "c. 1", the second is "c. 2", and so on; the first local Act of a year is "c. i", the second is "c. ii", and so on; while the first personal Act of a year is "c. 1 ", the second is "c. 2 ", and so on (note the use of italics). Chapter numbers for Acts passed before

1922-481: The Act is often referred to as the Adventurers' Act 1640 : despite being passed in response to events in 1641 . Short titles were only introduced in the middle of the nineteenth century, and it was only by the late 1890s that every individual Act of Parliament had one. Some earlier Acts that originally lacked a short title were given one by later legislation, most notably by the Short Titles Act 1896 ; also, since

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1984-469: The Act's provisions that is too unwieldy for convenient citation; for example, the long title of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is around 400 words. Acts are today split between three series, public general Acts , local Acts , and personal Acts , and cited accordingly. Each Act within each series is numbered sequentially with a chapter number , identifying it as a chapter of

2046-587: The Parliament of Great Britain's Acts continue unbroken from the numbers for the Parliament of England's. Some individual Acts from these parliaments have more than one citation, depending on the edition in which the Act is printed. Modern practice for the Parliaments of England and Great Britain is to follow the citations used in The Statutes of the Realm , while for Scotland the citations used are those in The Acts of

2108-491: The Parliaments of Scotland (both of which are considered legally authoritative). These latter citations are also used in the official Chronological Table of the Statutes . Only a small number of Acts passed by these parliaments have been given a short title by later legislation. All legislation passed by the various devolved parliaments and assemblies has both a short title and a long title. Each piece of legislation passed by

2170-668: The RIPA where required. The 2000 Act established the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to hear complaints about surveillance by public bodies. The Tribunal replaced the Interception of Communications Tribunal, the Security Service Tribunal, and the Intelligence Services Tribunal with effect from 2 October 2000. Between 2000 and 2009 the tribunal upheld only 4 out of 956 complaints. Citation of United Kingdom legislation Each piece of legislation passed by

2232-468: The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) to provide me with full details of all investigations that have used Ripa powers to acquire communications data to identify journalistic sources. My office will undertake a full inquiry into these matters and report our findings to the prime minister". On 12 October 2014, the justice minister, Simon Hughes , confirmed on Sky News 's Murnaghan programme that

2294-465: The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. Despite claims in the press that local councils are conducting over a thousand RIPA-based covert surveillance operations every month for petty offences such as under-age smoking and breaches of planning regulations, the Office of Surveillance Commissioners' last report shows that public bodies granted 8,477 requests for directed surveillance, down over 1,400 on

2356-669: The Secretary of State under section 7 of the Cremation Act 1902 and section 10 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1926 and dated 28th October 1930". This longer form of citation was used when the 1930 regulations were revoked by schedule 2 to the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/2841). A statutory instrument made by the Scottish Government is called a Scottish statutory instrument (or SSI ). Each of these

2418-406: The UK government would reform RIPA to prevent the police using surveillance powers to discover journalists' sources. He said that the police's use of RIPA's powers had been "entirely inappropriate" and in future the authorisation of a judge would be needed for police forces to be given approval to access journalists' phone records in pursuit of a criminal investigation. The presumption would be that if

2480-410: The United Kingdom; i.e., by parliamentary session and chapter number. Acts passed by the Parliament of Scotland are cited by calendar year and chapter number. Acts of the last session of the Parliament of Great Britain and the first session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are both cited as "41 Geo. 3". The numbering runs straight through, effectively merging the sessions: that is, the numbers for

2542-545: The Westminster Parliament, each proposed enactment forming part of a Bill is known as a clause , rather than as a section. For Scottish legislation, the term "section" is used for Bills as for Acts of the Scottish Parliament. The terminology used for the equivalent in secondary legislation of sections of an Act of Parliament depends upon the particular type of instrument; however, the numbering system follows

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2604-595: The abuse of investigatory powers. Widely reported cases include the Stanford/Liddell case, the Goodman/Mulcaire Royal voicemail interception, and Operation Barbatus. Cliff Stanford and George Nelson Liddell pleaded guilty to offences under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act in 2005. They were found to have intercepted emails at the company Redbus Interhouse. Stanford was sentenced to six months' imprisonment suspended for two years, and fined £20,000. It

2666-580: The chapter number. There is a difference in naming convention between Acts passed in Northern Ireland and Acts passed at Westminster but relating to Northern Ireland. Thus, the Criminal Evidence Act (Northern Ireland) 1923 is an Act passed at Stormont, but the Criminal Appeal (Northern Ireland) Act 1930 is an Act passed at Westminster (note the different placement of "(Northern Ireland)" in

2728-431: The exception of Northern Ireland secondary legislation, each piece of secondary legislation made in the United Kingdom since 1948 has been numbered as a statutory instrument (or SI ). Most individual SIs have what is generally referred to as a "short title" (despite none having a "long title"). Each SI is centrally registered and issued with a number; the numbering resumes from "1" at the start of each calendar year. Thus,

2790-457: The former Parliament of Northern Ireland (Stormont) was also known as an Act of Parliament . The system of citation of Northern Ireland Acts of Parliament is almost identical to that for the Westminster Parliament, except that the change to numbering by calendar year happened earlier (starting in 1943 ), and that Northern Ireland Acts are cited in Westminster legislation with "(N.I.)" appended to

2852-553: The full citation for the Trinidad and Tobago (Constitution) Order in Council 1950 would be "SI 1950 No. 510 (SI 1950 Vol. II p. 1156)". Some prerogative instruments are also printed in appendices to the annual volumes of SIs. These instruments are not numbered, and are thus cited by page number only; e.g., the Fiji (Appeal to Privy Council) Order in Council 1950 is cited as "SI 1950 Vol. II p. 1555". Older secondary legislation frequently lacks

2914-542: The illegal harvesting of cockles and clams in ways that are regulated by RIPA. David Smith, deputy commissioner at the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) stated that he was concerned about the surveillance which took place in Poole . Other councils in the UK have conducted undercover operations regulated by RIPA against dog fouling and fly-tipping . In April 2016, 12 councils said that they use unmanned aerial vehicles for "covert operations", and that such flights are covered by

2976-505: The independence of the Irish state in 1922, an Act may have a different short title in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland because of the different legislation passed in the two states. Older Acts may also have a "conventional" short title, such as " Crewe's Act ". The Parliament of the United Kingdom came into being on 1 January 1801; before that date, legislation was passed either by

3038-404: The insertion of a new section part of the way through a numerical sequence, then sequential capital letters are used following the appropriate number; thus, a new section inserted between s. 1 and s. 2 will be numbered "s. 1A". The terminology for the structure of Acts and Measures of the devolved parliaments and assemblies follows that used for Westminster legislation. During its passage through

3100-405: The introduction of promised protections for journalists, lawyers and others who handle privileged information, including confidential helplines, from such police surveillance operations. He said: "I fully understand and share the concerns raised by the protection of journalistic sources so as to enable a free press. Today I have written to all chief constables and directed them under section 58 (1) of

3162-426: The law, accusing them of acting like comic strip detective Dick Tracy . The Trading Standards Institute has been very critical of these views, stating that the use of surveillance is critical to their success. The " deniable encryption " features in free software such as FreeOTFE , TrueCrypt and BestCrypt could be said to make the task of investigations featuring RIPA much more difficult. Another concern

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3224-550: The main UK series of SIs, but are also numbered separately as part of an "NI" series, with the numbering resuming from "NI 1" at the start of each calendar year. Legislation passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly cites these instruments by the "NI" number only. Secondary legislation made by the Northern Ireland Executive is numbered sequentially as part of the statutory rules of Northern Ireland , with

3286-409: The manner in which certain public bodies may conduct surveillance and access a person's electronic communications. The Act: The type of communications data that can be accessed varies with the reason for its use, and cannot be adequately explained here. Refer to the legislation for more specific information. The reasons for which the use of directed surveillance & covert human intelligence sources

3348-470: The numbering resuming from "No. 1" at the start of each calendar year. The numbering mirrors that used for the UK's main series of SIs; thus the Prohibition of Traffic (Ardoyne, Belfast) Order (Northern Ireland) 2011 is cited as "SR 2011 No. 270". Previously this type of secondary legislation was numbered as "Statutory Rules and Orders (Northern Ireland)". Each distinct "enactment" within an Act of Parliament

3410-493: The powers of the act in order to identify their sources, bypassing the usual court proceedings needed to obtain such information. The UK newspaper The Sun made an official written complaint to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to seek a public review of the London Metropolitan Police's use of anti-terror laws to obtain the phone records of Tom Newton Dunn , its political editor, in relation to its inquiry into

3472-474: The powers were used was against animal rights activists in November 2007. In October 2014, it was revealed that RIPA had been used by UK police forces to obtain information about journalists' sources in at least two cases. These related to the so-called Plebgate inquiry and the prosecution of Chris Huhne for perversion of the course of justice . In both cases, journalists' telephone records were obtained using

3534-478: The previous year. Less than half of those were granted by local authorities, and the commissioner reported that, "Generally speaking, local authorities use their powers sparingly with over half of them granting five or fewer authorisations for directed surveillance. Some sixteen per cent granted none at all." In June 2008, the chairman of the Local Government Association , Sir Simon Milton , sent out

3596-483: The same pattern. A comparison of terms and abbreviations is shown in the table below. The naming and citation of provisions included in a schedule is the same across all forms of legislation as the system used for Westminster legislation, and has therefore been omitted from this table. Section 19(1) of the Interpretation Act 1978 provides: Where an Act cites another Act by year, statute, session or chapter, or

3658-542: The two). Acts passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly are cited by calendar year and chapter number. Each Act of the Scottish Parliament is cited by calendar year and the acronymic "asp" number ; e.g., the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 is "2000 asp 5". Measures of the National Assembly for Wales (2003–2011) are cited by calendar year and the acronymic "nawm" number; e.g.,

3720-610: Was alleged Stanford had intercepted emails between Dame Shirley Porter and John Porter (Chairman of Redbus Interhouse). In 2007, News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison for intercepting the voice mail of members of the Royal Family as part of the News International phone hacking scandal . His associate Glenn Mulcaire received a six-month sentence. In 2007, Operation Barbatus exposed

3782-509: Was less comprehensive. However, those instruments centrally registered and issued with a number follow the same pattern; thus the Trinidad and Tobago (Constitution) Order in Council 1950 is numbered as "SI 1950 No. 510". The annual volumes of SIs before 1961, and all those for SR&Os, were organised by subject matter rather than by instrument number. This means that these instruments should ideally be cited by both number and page reference; thus

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3844-416: Was tried for 'Disclosing details of Section 49 Notice' under s. 54. In August 2009 it was announced that two people had been prosecuted and convicted for refusing to provide British authorities with their encryption keys, under Part III of the Act. The first of these was sentenced to a term of 9 months' imprisonment. In a 2010 case, Oliver Drage, a 19-year-old takeaway worker being investigated as part of

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