12J. (1) The President of the District Court shall designate such and so many judges of the District Court to be authorising judges for the purposes of this Act.

(2) An application to an authorising judge under F73[section] 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 7A, 7B, 7C or 7D may be made—

(a) whether or not the service provider in respect of whom the authorisation is issued is resident or located in the District Court district to which the authorising judge stands assigned, and

(b) whether or not the data to which the authorisation applies is retained by the service provider within the District Court district to which the authorising judge stands assigned.]