Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011

1

Interpretation.

1.— (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1993” means the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993;

F1["authorising judge" means a judge of the District Court designated under section 12J(1);]

“cell ID” means the identity of the cell from which a mobile telephony call originated or in which it terminated;

F2["competition offence" means an offence under section 6 of the Competition Act 2002, that is an offence involving an agreement, decision or concerted practice to which subsection (2) of that section applies;]

“data” means traffic data or location data and the related data necessary to identify the subscriber or user;

“designated judge” means the judge of the High Court designated by the President of the High Court under section 8 of the Act of 1993;

F1["disclosure requirement" means a requirement made of a service provider under section 6, 6F, 7C or 7D;

"electronic communications network" means transmission systems and, where applicable—

(a) switching equipment or routing equipment, and

(b) other resources,including network elements which are not active, which permit the conveyance of signals by wire, by radio, by optical or by other electromagnetic means, and such conveyance includes the use of—

(i) satellite networks,

(ii) fixed terrestrial networks (both circuit-switched and packet-switched, including internet),

(iii) mobile terrestrial networks,

(iv) electricity cable systems to the extent that they are used for the purpose of transmitting signals,

(v) networks used for either or both radio and television broadcasting, and

(vi) cable television networks,

irrespective of the type of information conveyed;

"electronic communications service" means a service normally provided for remuneration which consists wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals on electronic communications networks, including telecommunications services, publicly available telephone services and transmission services in networks used for broadcasting, but does not include—

(a) services providing, or exercising editorial control over, content transmitted using electronic communications networks and services, and

(b) information society services within the meaning of Article 1 (inserted by Directive 98/48/EC of 20 July 19981) of Directive 98/34/EC of 22 June 19982 which do not consist wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals on electronic communications networks;]

F3[]

“Garda Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána;

F1["internet source data" means the following data necessary to trace and identify the source of a communication by internet access, internet email or internet telephony:

(a) the Internet Protocol (IP) address, whether dynamic or static, allocated by the service provider to the source of a communication;

(b) the name and address of the subscriber or registered user to whom an Internet Protocol (IP) address was allocated at the time of the communication;]

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform;

“processing” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 1988;

“Referee” means the holder of the office of Complaints Referee under the Act of 1993;

“revenue offence” means an offence under any of the following provisions that is a serious offence:

(a) section 186 of the Customs Consolidation Act 1876;

(b) section 1078 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997;

(c) section 102 of the Finance Act 1999;

(d) section 119 of the Finance Act 2001;

(e) section 79 (inserted by section 62 of the Finance Act 2005) of the Finance Act 2003;

(f) section 78 of the Finance Act 2005;

F1["Schedule 2 data" means the categories of data specified in Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 2;]

“serious offence” means an offence punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 years or more, and an offence listed in Schedule 1 is deemed to be a serious offence;

“service provider” means a person who is engaged in the provision of a publicly available electronic communications service or a public communications network by means of fixed line or mobile telephones or the Internet;

F1["superior officer" means—

(a) in relation to a member of the Garda Síochána, a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of superintendent;

(b) in relation to a member of the Permanent Defence Force, a member of the Permanent Defence Force not below the rank of lieutenant colonel;

(c) in relation to an officer of the Revenue Commissioners, an officer of the Revenue Commissioners not below the rank of principal officer;]

F4[(d) in relation to an officer of the Competition and Consumer Protection F5[Commission], an officer of the Competition and Consumer Protection F5[Commission] not below the rank of principal officer;]

“telephone service” means calls (including voice, voicemail, conference and data calls), supplementary services (including call forwarding and call transfer) and messaging and multimedia services (including short message services, enhanced media services and multi-media services);

“unsuccessful call attempt” means a communication where a telephone call or an Internet telephony call has been successfully connected but not answered or there has been a network management intervention;

F6["user" means a person who is using an electronic communications service or other means of electronic communication, for private or other purposes—

(a) whether or not that electronic communications service or other means of electronic communication is publicly available, and

(b) whether or not that person has subscribed to the service;]

F1["user data" means the following types of data and any other types of data set out in technical specification ETSI TS 103 280 "Lawful Interception (LI): dictionary for common parameters" issued by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute that are relevant to these data:

(a) the name of the user;

(b) the address of the user;

(c) where applicable, the following data in respect of the user:

(i) the mobile telephony number;

(ii) the fixed network telephony number;

(iii) the International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI);

(iv) the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI);

(v) the Internet Protocol (IP) address, whether dynamic or static, allocated by the internet access service to the communication;

(vi) the user ID;

(vii) the date and time of initial activation of an electronic communications service or other means of communication;

(viii) the date and time of the last outgoing mobile telephony or fixed network telephony communication;]

“user ID” means a unique identifier allocated to a person when they subscribe to or register with an Internet access service or Internet communications service.

(2) A word or expression used in this Act and also in Directive 2002/58/EC has the same meaning in this Act as in that Directive.

Annotations

Amendments:

F1

Inserted (26.06.2023) by Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Act 2022 (25/2022), s. 2(c), S.I. No. 287 of 2023, art. 3(b).

F2

Inserted (31.10.2014) by Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 (29/2014), s. 89(a), S.I. No. 366 of 2014, in effect as per reg. 2.

F3

Deleted (26.06.2023) by Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Act 2022 (25/2022), s. 2(b), S.I. No. 287 of 2023, art. 3(b).

F4

Inserted (1.08.2023) by Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Act 2022 (25/2022), s. 2(c), S.I. No. 390 of 2023.

F5

Substituted (1.08.2023) by Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 (24/2023), s. 78(a), S.I. No. 391 of 2023.

F6

Substituted (26.06.2023) by Communications (Retention of Data) (Amendment) Act 2022 (25/2022), s. 2(a), S.I. No. 287 of 2023, art. 3(b).

Modifications (not altering text):

C2

Reference to "processing" construed (25.05.2018) by Data Protection Act 2018 (7/2018), s. 166, S.I. No. 174 of 2018.

Reference to processing in enactment

166. Subject to this Act, a reference in any enactment to processing within the meaning of the Act of 1988 shall be construed as including a reference to processing within the meaning of—

(a) the Data Protection Regulation, and

(b) Part 5.