Part 3: Communications Data etc Communications data Section 12: Offence of unlawfully obtaining communications data
Section 12 amends section 11 of the IPA 2016. Subsection (2) amends section 11(1) of the IPA 2016 with the effect that public authorities which acquire communications data from another public authority acting as a Telecommunications Operator (TO) which is not wholly or mainly funded out of public funds will not commit a section 11 offence in relation to that acquisition.
	Subsection (3) inserts a list of examples of cases which will amount to "lawful authority" in subsection (3A) of section 11 in respect of communications data acquisition from a TO or Postal Operator. This is a non-exhaustive list of authorities that will amount to "lawful authority" and which includes the following; where the relevant person has obtained communications data under section 81(1) IPA 2016, where communications data is obtained in the exercise of a statutory power of the relevant public authority (including other authorisations available under the IPA 2016), where the operator lawfully provides the communications data to the relevant public authority, any judicial authorisation e.g. a court order, where the data has been obtained after it has been published and where the communications data has been obtained by the relevant person when responding to a call made to the emergency services.
	Subsection (3B) sets out the meaning of ‘emergency services’ and ‘publish’ as referred to in subsection (3A).
	This section also makes a consequential change to the heading of section 6 with the insertion of ‘in relation to interceptions’ in order to distinguish it from "lawful authority" for communications data.