Investigatory Powers Act 2016

74 Requirement to be party to collaboration agreement

(1) A designated senior officer of a local authority may not grant an authorisation unless—

(a) the local authority is a party to a collaboration agreement (whether as a supplying authority or a subscribing authority or both), and

(b) that collaboration agreement is certified by the Secretary of State (having regard to guidance given by virtue of section 79(6) and (7)) as being appropriate for the local authority.

(2) A designated senior officer of a local authority may only grant an authorisation to a person within subsection (3).

(3) A person is within this subsection if the person is an officer of a relevant public authority which is a supplying authority under a collaboration agreement to which the local authority is a party.

(4) If the local authority is itself a supplying authority under a collaboration agreement with the result that officers of the local authority are permitted to be granted authorisations by a designated senior officer of a subscribing authority, the persons within subsection (3) include officers of the local authority.

(5) In this section “collaboration agreement”, “subscribing authority” and “supplying authority” have the same meaning as in section 78.