Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 5:45 pm on 12 July 2000.

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Photo of Lord Bassam of Brighton Lord Bassam of Brighton Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office 5:45, 12 July 2000

My Lords, the Government have sought at every opportunity to emphasise that interception is a method of last resort, and is used sparingly. The purpose of Amendment No. 13 is to clarify that commercial and other organisations which provide a telecommunications service as a means of accessing a further service of theirs will not be subject to any order under Clause 12.

I give an example to explain what that means in practice. A bank may decide that it will offer a telecommunications service to its customers, as a means of providing access to its banking service. As a result, customers are able to communicate with that bank, perhaps by e-mail, and make transactions or check the balance of their account. Where such a service is provided, the effect of the amendment is to exclude its provider from any obligations imposed under Clause 12 to develop or maintain an interception capability.

The amendment also puts outside the scope of Clause 12 a telecommunications service that is necessarily incidental to a different service. There may be businesses now, or in the future, which offer a telecommunications service only as part of a wider, non-telecommunications operation. The telecommunications aspect might be an integral part of the business; but only as a necessary off-shoot of the non-communications business. Clause 12 will not cover such a service.

With regard to the specifics of what the order made under Clause 12 will contain, my honourable friend Mr Clarke explained in another place that there was a three-stage process towards reasonable intercept capability. The Bill is the first stage. It sets out the principle that some service providers should maintain an intercept capability. This is an established principle that has been long adhered to by public telecommunications operators.

The second phase will be an order laid before Parliament for the establishment of a reasonable capability. That order can be made only after consultation with those likely to be affected and must be approved by each House. It will set out what kind of businesses are proposed to be covered. The order cannot go beyond the meaning of "public telecommunications services" in the Bill. In particular, it can apply only to telecommunications services that are

"offered or provided to a substantial section of the public".

And it will oblige the Secretary of State to come to Parliament and to justify the interpretation that he places on those words. Within the class of businesses that could be covered in theory, the order will reveal exactly which parts of the communications sector are to be covered.

The third phase will be the serving of individual notices on communication service providers. Those will state the capability that they are expected to provide and the time-scale for provision. The individual notices will result from a dialogue between the Government and the service providers themselves. The notice will take account of the circumstances of each provider and will be consistent with the order passed by Parliament.

I hope that this amendment will be welcomed by all sides of the House. I beg to move.