{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/communications-data-acquisition-regulations-2019/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/communications-data-acquisition-regulations-2019/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2019/939",
  "legislation_title": "The Communications Data Acquisition Regulations 2019",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/communications-data-acquisition-regulations-2019",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations)\nThese Regulations amend the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (c. 25) (“the 2016 Act”) to enable police forces and other public authorities (except local authorities) to continue to share designated senior officers for the purposes of acquiring communications data under the 2016 Act.\nSome police forces and other public authorities share designated senior officers for the purposes of authorising the acquisition of communications data under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (c. 23) (“RIPA”). Part 3 of the 2016 Act replaces the provisions of RIPA providing for the acquisition of communications data by police forces and other public authorities. Section 78 and section 80 in Part 3 of the 2016 Act as originally enacted would have allowed the practice of sharing designated senior officers to continue after the transition from RIPA to the 2016 Act.\nBefore Part 3 of the 2016 Act came into force, it was amended by the Data Retention and Acquisition Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1123) (“the 2018 Regulations”). These amendments were made in response to the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in joined cases C-203/15 and C-698/15, setting out safeguards required in order that a communications data retention regime is compliant with EU law. So far as relevant to these Regulations, the 2018 Regulations provided for independent authorisation by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner (new section 60A of the 2016 Act), amended section 61 of the 2016 Act which provides for internal authorisation of certain requests by a designated senior officer, and inserted a provision for authorisation by designated senior officers in urgent cases. The 2018 Regulations also amended the 2016 Act so that local authorities could only acquire communications data following an authorisation from the Investigatory Powers Commissioner under the new section 60A. The consequential amendments to the 2016 Act in the 2018 Regulations removed the provisions from section 78 and section 80 allowing for collaboration in relation to designated senior officers. As a result of these amendments the 2016 Act only allowed for collaboration agreements relating to the sharing of single points of contact.\nRegulation 3 and regulation 4 of these Regulations partially restore section 78 and section 80 of the 2016 Act to the form in which originally enacted so that police forces and other public authorities will be able to continue sharing designated senior officers when acquiring communications data under section 61 of the 2016 Act. The Regulations also add provisions to section 78 and section 80 to allow the sharing of designated senior officers when acquiring communications data under section 61A.\nRegulation 2 amends section 73 of the 2016 Act to ensure that the definition of “collaboration agreement” in relation to a local authority continues to be limited to an agreement allowing the sharing of single points of contact. Local authorities are not able to acquire communications data under section 61 or section 61A of the 2016 Act, and so do not have designated senior officers.\nRegulation 5 amends the definition of “authorisation” in section 86 of the 2016 Act so that it takes account of the modifications to section 61 and section 61A made by sections 78 and 80 of that Act. In consequence of the amendments to section 78 and section 80 of the 2016 Act, regulation 6 revokes amending provisions of the Data Retention and Acquisition Regulations 2018.\nA full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/939/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T22:40:31.965407+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}