Draft Investigatory Powers Bill

The Commission's written evidence to the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill Committee, December 2015

Our provisional analysis of the draft Bill is that in many respects the proposals considerably improve the legal framework governing investigatory powers in the UK and make important progress towards meeting relevant human rights requirements. We suggest a number of proposals to further improve the draft Bill, and our recommendations include:

• Codes of Practice are published alongside the Bill to improve understanding and enable scrutiny of the full legal framework that is proposed.
• The standard of review by judicial commissioners should be clearly explained to make clear that the review of the decision to issue the warrant must include intense scrutiny of whether the warrant is necessary and proportionate.

Download the Commission's submission