Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) Act 2013

10 When duty to have full interception capability is complied with

(1)

A public telecommunications network or a telecommunications service has full interception capability if every surveillance agency that is authorised under an interception warrant or any other lawful interception authority to intercept telecommunications or services on that network, or the network operator concerned, is able to—

(a)

identify and intercept telecommunications without intercepting telecommunications that are not authorised to be intercepted under the warrant or lawful authority; and

(b)

obtain call associated data relating to telecommunications (other than telecommunications that are not authorised to be intercepted under the warrant or lawful authority); and

(c)

obtain call associated data and the content of telecommunications (other than telecommunications that are not authorised to be intercepted under the warrant or lawful authority) in a useable format; and

(d)

carry out the interception of telecommunications unobtrusively, without unduly interfering with any telecommunications, and in a manner that protects the privacy of telecommunications that are not authorised to be intercepted under the warrant or lawful authority; and

(e)

undertake the actions referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) efficiently and effectively and,—

(i)

if it is reasonably achievable, at the time of transmission of the telecommunication; or

(ii)

if it is not reasonably achievable, as close as practicable to that time.

(2)

If a network operator, or an employee or agent of a network operator, undertakes the interception of a telecommunication on behalf of a surveillance agency under subsection (1), the interception must be taken to be complete when the network operator provides the call associated data or the content of the telecommunication, or both, to the surveillance agency.

(3)

A network operator must, in order to comply with subsection (1)(c), decrypt a telecommunication on that operator’s public telecommunications network or telecommunications service if—

(a)

the content of that telecommunication has been encrypted; and

(b)

the network operator intercepting the telecommunication has provided that encryption.

(4)

However, subsection (3) does not require a network operator to—

(a)

decrypt any telecommunication on that operator’s public telecommunications network or telecommunications service if the encryption has been provided by means of a product that is—

(i)

supplied by a person other than the operator and is available to the public; or

(ii)

supplied by the operator as an agent for that product; and

(b)

ensure that a surveillance agency has the ability to decrypt any telecommunication.

(5)

In subsection (1)(c), useable format means—

(a)

a format that is determined by a notice issued under section 42; or

(b)

a format that is acceptable to the network operator and the surveillance agency executing the interception warrant or other lawful interception authority.