TNAG-2156-FCO40-3076-International-Covenant-on-Civil-and-Political-Rights-(ICCPR)-1990 — Page 86

CCPR/C/58/Add.6 page 54

236. Under the Act, the functions of the Security Service are confined to the protection of national security and to safeguarding the economic well-being of the United Kingdom from overseas threat. The Security Service may obtain only information which is necessary for the proper discharge of these functions and may disclose information only for these purposes or for the prevention or detection of serious crime. The Secretary of State is required to approve arrangements relating to the disclosure of information by the Security Service which may affect a person's employment. The warrant decisions of the Secretary of State are subject to continuing independent review by a judicial commissioner, who will produce an annual report to be laid before Parliament.

237. A tribunal of three to five lawyers is to be appointed under the Act to receive complaints from individuals or organizations aggrieved by anything they believe the Security Service has done in relation to them or their property. If a determination is made in the complainant's favour, the tribunal could order that any inquiries about the complainant cease, records be destroyed, warrants quashed and financial compensation paid.

Data protection

238. With reference to paragraph 67 of the second report, the Data Protection Act 1984, which introduced measures designed to safeguard data processed automatically, became fully effective on 1 November 1987, and as a result the United Kingdom was able on 1 December 1987 to ratify the 1981 Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data. Paragraphs 68 and 69 of the second report continue to apply, and express the present position.

239. The Act gives anyone about whom personal data are held on computer ("data subjects") the right to a copy of that information. Those who keep such data ("data users") are, with some exceptions, required to register and provide an address to which the data subject can write. The Act covers information collected by private bodies as well as by the State, with some exceptions for purposes such as national security or the prevention of crime. The Act requires that the data subject shall be made aware of the uses data are put, and be given the opportunity to request that his passed to other data users.

to which the data are not

240. Transborder flow of personal data is covered by the 1981 Convention. The Convention sets minimum standards, and if a State Party observes them another State Party cannot prevent relevant data from crossing its frontiers. But the 1984 Act gives powers to intervene if necessary in cases where the Convention is inapplicable.

Search warrants

In

241. Search warrants are normally issued in England and Wales by justices of the peace under section 8 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. certain circumstances, however, broadly where sensitive or legally privileged information is sought or may be found, the authority of a county or High Court judge is necessary for premises or property to be searched. The only qualification to the requirement that a warrant be obtained from a justice or a judge is that a constable may enter and search premises without a warrant in order to arrest a person for an arrestable offence, or to recapture a person who is unlawfully at large, or to save life or limb, or to prevent serious