56Exclusion of matters from legal proceedings etc.
(1)No evidence may be adduced, question asked, assertion or disclosure made or other thing done in, for the purposes of or in connection with any legal proceedings or Inquiries Act proceedings which (in any manner)—
(a)discloses, in circumstances from which its origin in interception-related conduct may be inferred—
(i)any content of an intercepted communication, or
(ii)any secondary data obtained from a communication, or
(b)tends to suggest that any interception-related conduct has or may have occurred or may be going to occur.
This is subject to Schedule 3 (exceptions).
(2)“Interception-related conduct” means—
(a)conduct by a person within subsection (3) that is, or in the absence of any lawful authority would be, an offence under section 3(1) (offence of unlawful interception);
(b)a breach of the prohibition imposed by section 9 (restriction on requesting interception by overseas authorities);
(c)a breach of the prohibition imposed by section 10 (restriction on requesting assistance under mutual assistance agreements etc.);
(d)the making of an application by any person for a warrant, or the issue of a warrant, under Chapter 1 of this Part;
(e)the imposition of any requirement on any person to provide assistance in giving effect to a targeted interception warrant or mutual assistance warrant.
(3)The persons referred to in subsection (2)(a) are—
(a)any person who is an intercepting authority (see section 18);
(b)any person holding office under the Crown;
(c)any person deemed to be the proper officer of Revenue and Customs by virtue of section 8(2) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979;
(d)any person employed by, or for the purposes of, a police force;
(e)any postal operator or telecommunications operator;
(f)any person employed or engaged for the purposes of the business of a postal operator or telecommunications operator.
(4)Any reference in subsection (1) to interception-related conduct also includes any conduct taking place before the coming into force of this section and consisting of—
(a)conduct by a person within subsection (3) that—
(i)was an offence under section 1(1) or (2) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (“RIPA”), or
(ii)would have been such an offence in the absence of any lawful authority (within the meaning of section 1(5) of RIPA);
(b)conduct by a person within subsection (3) that—
(i)was an offence under section 1 of the Interception of Communications Act 1985, or
(ii)would have been such an offence in the absence of subsections (2) and (3) of that section;
(c)a breach by the Secretary of State of the duty under section 1(4) of RIPA (restriction on requesting assistance under mutual assistance agreements);
(d)the making of an application by any person for a warrant, or the issue of a warrant, under—
(i)Chapter 1 of Part 1 of RIPA, or
(ii)the Interception of Communications Act 1985;
(e)the imposition of any requirement on any person to provide assistance in giving effect to a warrant under Chapter 1 of Part 1 of RIPA.
(5)In this section—
“Inquiries Act proceedings” means proceedings of an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005;
“intercepted communication” means any communication intercepted in the course of its transmission by means of a postal service or telecommunication system.