Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: proposed amendments affecting lawful interception
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Detail of outcome
Original consultation
Consultation description
The government ran a short, targeted consultation in respect of two specific changes to RIPA to address an incorrect transposition of European Directives. Those changes concerned:
- informed consent when both parties consent to their communications being intercepted
- the creation of a sanction for unintentional unlawful interception
The consultation closing date was extended from 7 December to 17 December.
Although the transposition of the E-Privacy Directive was completed in 2003, the European Commission has identified deficiencies in the way in which the Data Protection Directive and the E-Privacy Directive were transposed. We sought to make changes to RIPA to address two of these issues, namely:
- the existing offence in RIPA only addresses intentional unlawful interception
- in the provisions where both parties consent to an interception the requirement for consent is not the same as in other data protection legislation.