Moved by
Baroness Williams of Trafford
47: Clause 36, page 30, line 13, at end insert—
“(7A) Subsection (7B) applies if the authorised person thinks that, in exercising the power in subsection (1), there is a risk of obtaining confidential information.
(7B) The authorised person must, to be satisfied that the exercise of the power is proportionate—
(a) have regard to the matters in subsection (7C), and
(b) be satisfied that—
(i) there are no other means of obtaining the information sought by the authorised person which avoid that risk, or
(ii) there are such other means, but it is not reasonably practicable to use them.
(7C) The matters referred to in subsection (7B)(a) are—
(a) the amount of confidential information likely to be stored on the device, and
(b) the potential relevance of the confidential information to—
(i) a purpose within subsection (2) for which the authorised person may exercise the power, or
(ii) a purpose within subsection (2) of section 40 for which the authorised person may exercise the power in subsection (1) of that section.”
Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment would, in circumstances where an electronic device may contain confidential information, require an authorised person to carry out the additional steps in new subsection (7B) of Clause 36 in order to be satisfied that the exercise of the power in clause 36(1) to extract information from the device is proportionate.