Home secretary Theresa May has responded to campaigning by the Law Society and other legal professional bodies by assuring that the bill governing the UK government's communication surveillance powers will incorporate statutory protections for communications subject attorney-client privilege. Draft legislation released last year was met with heavy criticism in the legal community as it was feared that a 'blanket' authority to access the communications records of lawyers would create an unacceptable threat to legal professional privilege, and by consequence, to the rule of law and the administration of justice. The new legislation needs to be in force by December 31 to replace the incumbent Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014, which the High Court has suspended due to incompatibilities with EU law.
Is it enough?
Despite Ms May's insistence that safeguards for lawyers and their clients are now 'safer and stronger', specific protections still appear few and far between in the new draft. A new passage on 'additional safeguards' says only that intercepting communications subject to legal professional privilege will only be permissible when 'there are exceptional and compelling circumstances which make the interception or selection for examination of these items necessary.'
Bar Council criticism
The Bar Council has already slammed the new draft bill as woefully insufficient. 'The Bar Council is disappointed that the bill introduced to Parliament [on Tuesday] does not provide sufficient protection for legal privilege on the face of the bill,' commented chairman of the bar Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC. Ms Doerries has also criticised the timeline for implementation of the bill, accusing legislators of rushing the new bill through without leaving time for 'proper parliamentary scrutiny.' Sources: Law Society Gazette; BBC
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