Part 6: Bulk warrants Chapter 1: Bulk interception warrants Section 152: Safeguards relating to examination of material
This section sets out the safeguards relating to the examination of intercepted content and secondary data which has been acquired under a bulk interception warrant. Subsections (1) and (2) require that intercepted content and secondary data may only be selected for examination for the operational purposes specified in the warrant and that selection for examination must be necessary and proportionate in all the circumstances.
	Subsection (4) places a prohibition on selecting intercepted content for examination if any criteria used for the selection of that content refer to an individual known to be currently in the British Islands. A targeted examination warrant under Part 2 of the Bill, issued by the Secretary of State and approved by a Judicial Commissioner, must be in place before any such examination can take place.
Example:
A member of an intelligence service is investigating an international terrorist group and one of that group regularly travels to the UK. In order to enable the selection of that person’s communications for examination, including during the periods when he is in the UK, a targeted examination warrant must be sought. This will need to be issued by the Secretary of State and approved by a Judicial Commissioner.
	Subsections (5) to (7) deal with cases in which there is a change of circumstances such that an individual believed to be outside the British Islands, whose communications’ content is being selected for examination, is discovered to be in the British Islands or has entered the British Islands. In those cases, a senior official may authorise the continued selection for examination for a period of five working days. Subsection (8) provides that the senior official must inform the Secretary of State that the selection is being carried out. Any selection after five working days will require the issue of a targeted examination warrant.
Example:
A member of an intelligence service is investigating an international terrorist group and suddenly one of that group is discovered to have arrived in the UK. In order to continue investigating that member of the group a senior official must authorise further selection of the content of his communications. This authorisation only lasts for five working days, after which the selection for examination must cease or a targeted examination warrant must be sought. This will need to be issued by the Secretary of State and the decision to issue the warrant approved by a Judicial Commissioner before any further selection is permitted.