COVERT HUMAN INTELLIGENCE SOURCES
CODE OF PRACTICE
4.1 Under section 26(8) of the 2000 Act a
person is a source if:
- he establishes or maintains a personal or
other relationship with a person for the
covert purpose of facilitating the doing of
anything falling within paragraph (b) or
(c);
- he covertly uses such a relationship to
obtain information or to provide access to
any information to another person; or
- he covertly discloses information obtained
by the use of such a relationship or as a
consequence of the existence of such a
relationship.
4.2 A source may include those referred to as
agents, informants and officers working
undercover.
4.3 By virtue of section 26(9)(b) of the 2000
Act a purpose is covert, in relation to the
establishment or maintenance of a personal
or other relationship, if and only if, the
relationship is conducted in a manner that
is calculated to ensure that one of the
parties to the relationship is unaware of
the purpose.
4.4 By virtue of section 26(9)(c) of the 2000
Act a relationship is used covertly, and
information obtained as mentioned in
paragraph 4.1(c) above is disclosed
covertly, if and only if it is used or, as
the case may be, disclosed in a manner that
is calculated to ensure that one of the
parties to the relationship is unaware of
the use or disclosure in question.
4.5 The use of a source involves inducing,
asking or assisting a person to engage in
the conduct of a source or to obtain
information by means of the conduct of such
a source.
4.6 The conduct of a source is any conduct
falling within section 29(4) of the 2000
Act, or which is incidental to anything
falling within section 29(4) of the 2000
Act.
4.7 Under section 29(3) of the 2000 Act an
authorisation for the use or conduct of a
source may be granted by the authorising
officer where he believes that the
authorisation is necessary:
- in the interests of national security 1,2;
- for the purpose of preventing and
detecting 3 crime or of preventing disorder;
- in the interests of the economic
well-being of the UK;
- In the interests of public safety;
- for the purpose of protecting public
health 4;
- for the purpose of assessing or
collecting any tax, duty, levy or other
imposition, contribution or charge payable
to a government department; or
- for any other purpose prescribed in an
order made by the Secretary of State 5.
4.8 The authorising officer must also believe
that the authorised use or conduct of a
source is proportionate to what is sought to
be achieved by that use or conduct.
4.9 The public authorities entitled to
authorise the use or conduct of a source are
those listed in Schedule 1 to the 2000 Act.
Responsibility for authorising the use or
conduct of a source rests with the
authorising officer and all authorisations
require the personal authority of the
authorising officer. An authorising officer
is the person designated under section 29 of
the 2000 Act to grant an authorisation for
the use or conduct of a source. The
Regulation of Investigatory Powers
(Prescriptions of Offices, Ranks and
Positions) Order 2000; SI No: 2417
designates the authorising officer for each
different public authority and the officers
entitled to act only in urgent cases. In
certain circumstances the Secretary of State
will be the authorising officer (see section
30(2) of the 2000 Act). 4.10 The authorising officer must give
authorisations in writing, except that in
urgent cases, they may be given orally by
the authorising officer or the officer
entitled to act in urgent cases. In such
cases, a statement that the authorising
officer has expressly authorised the action
should be recorded in writing by the
applicant as soon as is reasonably
practicable.
4.11 A case is not normally to be regarded as
urgent unless the time that would elapse
before the authorising officer was
available to grant the authorisation
would, in the judgement of the person
giving the authorisation, be likely to
endanger life or jeopardise the operation
or investigation for which the
authorisation was being given. An
authorisation is not to be regarded as
urgent where the need for an authorisation
has been neglected or the urgency is of
the authorising officer's own making.
4.12 Authorising officers should not be
responsible for authorising their own
activities, e.g. those in which they,
themselves, are to act as the source or in
tasking the source. However, it is
recognised that this is not always
possible, especially in the cases of small
organisations. Where an authorising
officer authorises his own activity the
authorisation record (see paragraphs 2.13
- 2.15) should highlight this and the
attention of a Commissioner or Inspector
should be invited to it during his next
inspection.
4.13 The authorising officers within the
police, NCIS and NCS may only grant
authorisations on application by a member
of their own force, Service or Squad.
Authorising officers in HMCE may only
grant authorisations on application by a
customs officer.
Footnote:
1 One of the functions of the
Security Service is the protection of national
security and in particular the protection
against threats from terrorism. These functions
extend throughout the United Kingdom, save that,
in Northern Ireland, where the lead
responsibility for investigating the threat from
terrorism related to the affairs of Northern
Ireland lies with the Police Service of Northern
Ireland. An authorising officer in another
public authority should not issue an
authorisation under Part II of the 2000 Act
where the operation or investigation falls
within the responsibilities of the Security
Service,as set out above, except where it is to
be carried out by a Special Branch or where the
Security Service has agreed that another public
authority can authorise the use or conduct of a
source which would normally fall within the
responsibilities of the Security Service.
2 HM Forces may also undertake operations in
connection with a military threat to national
security and other operations in connection with
national security in support of the Security
Service, the Police Service of Northern Ireland
or other Civil Powers.
3 Detecting crime is
defined in section 81(5) of the 2000 Act.
4 This could include
investigations into infectious diseases,
contaminated products or the illicit sale of
pharmaceuticals.
5 This could only be for a
purpose which satisfies the criteria set out in
Article 8(2) of the ECHR.
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