Search Legislation

Advanced Search

Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021

Contents

Policy background

  1. CHIS are a core part of security, intelligence and policing work. A CHIS may be a police officer, someone holding a position in a public authority who is acting undercover, or a member of the public who is recruited by a public authority.
  2. The use of CHIS is a key tactic in protecting national security and investigating serious crime. It allows investigators to gain an insight into the criminal and terrorist organisations, and hostile state actors, they are targeting.
  3. For decades, CHIS have played a crucial part in preventing and safeguarding victims from many serious crimes including terrorism, drugs and firearms offences, and child sexual exploitation. This has included helping to identify and disrupt terrorist plots.
  4. There will be occasions where CHIS will need to participate in criminal conduct. This may be necessary, for example, to maintain credibility or gain the trust of those under investigation. The circumstances in which CHIS participate in crime are carefully managed.
  5. The activity that may be authorised under the Act is not new activity. It is a continuation of existing activity that had been authorised using a variety of legal bases.
  6. The Government introduced the CHIS (Criminal Conduct) Act to provide an express power for the authorisation of criminal conduct, providing certainty to public authorities utilising this critical tool.
  7. The Act provides a clear and consistent legal basis for all public authorities that need to authorise this activity. It creates a single framework and enshrines uniform safeguards, including independent oversight by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner.
  8. The regime will allow for conduct to be authorised where it is necessary on one of the specified grounds and proportionate to what is sought to be achieved by the authorised conduct.
  9. The effect of a criminal conduct authorisation issued under the Act will be to render the authorised conduct "lawful for all purposes". This is consistent with the effect of other authorisations under the existing RIPA regime, and under other investigatory powers legislation.
  10. The power is and will continue to be subject to robust safeguards under the Act, including the following:
    • CHIS will never be given unlimited authority to commit any and all crimes: authorisations must be necessary, proportionate and specific;
    • All public authorities are bound by the Human Rights Act to act in a way that is compatible with Convention rights. Rights that are protected include the right to life, and the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
    • The Act does not prevent the relevant prosecuting authorities from considering a prosecution for any activity that falls outside the parameters of an authorisation issued under the Act’s regime;
    • All investigatory powers are overseen by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, who sets the frequency of inspections of public authorities, and publishes an annual report on the findings from these inspections;
    • Any person or organisation is able to make a complaint to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) with regards to any investigatory powers which will be independently considered by the IPT; and
    • Intelligence agencies are accountable to the UK Parliament via the cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC), an independent body established under the Intelligence Services Act 1994 and reinforced in the Justice and Security Act 2014.

Back to top