Investigatory Powers Bill — Clause 203 — Protection of Disclosures to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner — 6 Jun 2016 at 20:01

The majority of MPs voted against additional protections against prosecutions for disclosing information to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner.

MPs were considering the Investigatory Powers Bill.^[1]

The amendment rejected in this vote was:

• Amendment 482, page 159, line 2, at end insert—
• ‘(1A) A disclosure pursuant to subsection (1) will not constitute a criminal offence for any purposes in this Act or in any other enactment.
• (1B) In subsection (1), a disclosure for the purposes of any function of the Commissioner may be made at the initiative of the person making the disclosure and without need for request by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner.”

The proposed amendment was accompanied by the following explanatory statement

• This amendment would make it clear that voluntary, unsolicited disclosures are protected, and that any whistle-blower is also protected from criminal prosecution.

Had it not been rejected the amendment would have added the above new subclauses to Clause 203^[2] of the Bill. The clause as it stood was titled Information gateway and stated:

• (1) A disclosure of information to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner or another Judicial Commissioner for the purposes of any function of the

Commissioner does not breach—

• (a) an obligation of confidence owed by the person making the disclosure,
• or
• (b) any other restriction on the disclosure of information (whether imposed by virtue of this Act or otherwise).
• (2) But subsection (1) does not apply to a disclosure, in contravention of any provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998, of personal data which is not exempt from those provisions.

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Investigatory Powers Bill
• [2] Clause 203 of the Investigatory Powers Bill as at the time of the vote

Debate in Parliament |