03/02/2020
Privacy International v Secretary of State for Foreign And Commonwealth Affairs & Ors (Rev 2) [2016] UKIPTrib 15_110-CH (17 October 2016)
• In addition, Intelligence Service staff must take particular care when deciding whether to seek
access to BCD and must consider whether there might be unintended consequences of such access to
BCD and whether the public interest is best served by seeking such access;
• In all cases where Intelligence Service staff intentionally seek to access and retain BCD relating to
the communications of individuals known to be members of the professions referred to above, they must
record the fact that such communications data has been accessed and retained and must flag this to the
Interception of Communications Commissioner at the next inspection;
• In the exceptional event that Intelligence Service staff were to seek access to BCD specifically in
order to determine a journalist's source, they should only do this if the proposal had been approved
beforehand at Director level. Any communications data obtained and retained as a result of such
access must be reported to the Interception of Communications Commissioner at the next inspection;
• Users must be trained on their professional and legal responsibilities, and refresher training and/or
updated guidance must be provided when systems or policies are updated;
• A range of audit functions must be put in place: users should be made aware that their access to
BCD will be monitored and that they must always be able to justify their activity on the systems;
• Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken in the event of inappropriate behaviour being
identified;
• Users must be warned, through the use of internal procedures and guidance, about the
consequences of any unjustified access to data, which can include dismissal and prosecution.
• In the exceptional event that Intelligence Service staff were to abuse their access to BCD – for
example, by seeking to access the communications data of an individual without a valid business need
– the relevant Intelligence Service must report the incident to the Interception of Communications
Commissioner at the next inspection."
Disclosure
40. The disclosure of BCD outside the Agency which holds can only occur if certain conditions are
complied with:
"4.4.1 The disclosure of BCD must be carefully managed to ensure that it only takes place when it is
justified on the basis of the relevant statutory disclosure gateway. The disclosure of an entire bulk
communications dataset, or a subset, outside the Intelligence Service may only be authorised by a
Senior Official or the Secretary of State.
4.4.2 Disclosure of individual items of BCD outside the relevant Intelligence Service may only be made
if the following conditions are met:
- that the objective of the disclosure falls within the Service's statutory functions or is for
the additional limited purposes set out in sections 2(2)(a) and 4(2)(a) of the ISA 1994 and
section 2(2)(a) of the SSA 1989;
- that it is necessary to disclose the information in question in order to achieve that
objective;
- that the disclosure is proportionate to the objective;
- that only as much of the information will be disclosed as is necessary to achieve that
objective."
41. Again, guidance is given to staff on the requirements of necessity and proportionality, in terms
similar to those relating to acquisition, but with specific reference to disclosure:
"When will disclosure be necessary?
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