Section 91 of the 1997 Act provides for the Prime Minister to appoint a Chief Commissioner, to perform a number of statutory responsibilities under Part III of the Act. These were extended in 2000 to cover oversight of RIPA Parts II and III, except where they relate to interception of communications and the Intelligence Services. He is also responsible for oversight of the RIP(S)A. Part III of RIPA covering Protected Electronic Information (Encryption) came into force on 1st October 2007 under SI 2007/2200.
The Chief Surveillance Commissioner (CSC) is responsible for:
- establishing the oversight arrangements
- considering appeals against Commissioner decisions
- reporting to the Prime Minister and Scottish Ministers on the matters with which he is concerned.
The CSC is required to consider and determine appeals against the decisions of Commissioners from authorising officers.
Authorising officers may appeal within a prescribed period of seven days. The CSC will consider the reasonableness of initial decisions and, once the appeal is determined, he will notify the decision to the authorising officer and the Commissioner against whose refusal, determination or decision the appeal was made.
Where an appeal by an authorising officer is upheld, the CSC will, in appropriate cases, order that the authorisation will remain effective for a specified period and will quash any order to destroy records.
The decisions of the CSC are not subject to appeal or liable to be questioned in court.
Under Part III of RIPA, there must be given to the Chief Commissioner, notifications of police and customs authorisations under section 51 of RIPA, requiring disclosure of a key.
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