Past intelligence sharing by GCHQ unlawful

06/02/15

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal today ruled that intelligence sharing between GCHQ and the US National Security Agency did not comply with Articles 8 and 10 ECHR.

The Tribunal (Burton J, Carr J, Robert Seabrook QC, Christopher Gardner QC and HH Geoffrey Rivlin QC) held a 5-day open hearing in July 2014 on assumed facts, followed by closed hearings attended only by counsel to the Tribunal and counsel for the respondents and a further open hearing. As a result of the closed hearings, additional disclosures were made about the hitherto unpublished safeguards applicable to the obtaining, retention and use of intercepted material.

The Tribunal held in December 2014 that the regime was now compatible with Articles 8 and 10, but only once the additional public disclosures made following the closed hearings were taken into account. It gave directions for further consideration (in open and in closed) as to the consequences of that ruling for interceptions made prior to the public disclosures and for closed consideration of the question whether there had been any breach of Convention rights in relation to the complainants.

In today’s ruling, the Tribunal held that, prior to the disclosures, the regime had been incompatible with Articles 8 and 10 ECHR.

The judgment from 05/12/2014 is here.

The judgment from 06/02/2015 is here.

The BBC news report can be found here.