Briefing paper: How Britain's use of wire-tap evidence compares with other European nations

Executive summary:

The UK does not at present allow evidence gathered from wiretaps to be used in court. All other European Union nations (with the exception of Ireland) allow wiretap evidence to be used in court - especially when related to crimes such as terrorism, drugs or corruption.

The British government is presently reviewing the use of wiretap evidence as part of its broader counter-terrorism bill which is expected to be presented later in 2007. Previous attempts to allow courts to use wiretap evidence have been blocked by the police and security services.

Use of intercepts in UK courts:

As part of a review of anti-terrorism legislation, on 7 June 2007 John Reid asked the government to examine the consequences of using wiretap evidence in court in anti-terrorism cases.

Currently the interception of communications is permitted under the terms of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) in certain circumstances.

However, only the Secretary of State can issue a warrant authorising an interception "in the interests of national security or for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime, provided that the interference is proportionate".

But despite the fact that RIPA permits interception, Section 17 of the act prohibits the use of evidence, questions, assertions or disclosures obtained through wire-tapping to be used in any legal proceedings.

According to Human Rights Watch, the UK is "one of only two Western democracies (the other being Ireland) to take this extreme view."

Human Rights Watch said that because the UK cannot use wiretap evidence to adequately try terror suspects, it is forced to deport them to their countries of origin - where they may face torture or unfair trials.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, has welcomed proposals to allow the use of intercept evidence in courts. She said: "Better investigatory powers for police are the rational alternative to the Government's proposals for 90 day pre-charge detention."

MI5 has opposed the use of wiretap evidence in court for fear that it would expose their sources and interception techniques.

Use of intercepts in European courts:

Summary: All European nations with the exception of the UK and Ireland allow the use of wiretap evidence in court. Italy and Netherlands are the most wire-tapped nations in the EU. The US also allows wire-tap evidence to be used in court.

Italy

Italy has the highest rate of phone-tapping per citizen in the European Union. In 2005 the government placed 106,000 phone-taps - an average of 180 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The high rate is largely the result of the country's many anti-corruption investigations - where wire-tap evidence is often crucial to securing convictions.

In January 2006, the Italian justice minister said that the number of authorised wiretaps had tripled from 32,000 in 2001 to 106,000 in 2005.

Netherlands

The Netherlands has the second-highest levels of phone-tapping after Italy and its government has pushed other EU nations to relax restrictions and telephone and internet surveillance.

In 2003 the Netherlands has the second highest rate of phone-tapping in the EU with 62 intercepts per 100,000 inhabitants.

France

In France wire-taps can be authorised by a number of government officials, including the Prime Minister, the Court of Assize or the Supreme Court of Appeal (Court de Cassation) and investigating judges.

During 2005 there were 5,774 interceptions (4,067 initial interceptions and 1,707 renewals). In 2006 there were 5,985 interceptions 4,176 and 1,809 renewals).

Sweden

The Swedish government in March 2007 presented a draft law to parliament which would give the intelligence service to right to monitor all international calls to or from Sweden without a court order.

The proposal, put forward by the defence minister, would create one of the world's most comprehensive surveillance systems.

(6th July 2007. Centre for Social Cohesion)