Background Control order-related provisions in the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 and the Crime and Security Act 2010 Provision relating to fingerprints and non-intimate samples
7.Sections 10-13 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 (“the 2008 Act”) made specific provision for the routine taking, use, storage and retention of fingerprints and non-intimate samples of individuals subject to a control order. In broad terms, these sections provided equivalent powers, procedures and safeguards as apply generally to fingerprints and samples taken from individuals on arrest (in line with the relevant existing legislation in the constituent countries of the UK).
8.The 2008 Act powers relating to the fingerprints and samples of controlled individuals were never commenced as a result of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in S and Marper v United Kingdom [2008] ECHR 1581 (S and Marper) that the ‘blanket and indiscriminate’ indefinite retention of such data where there had been no conviction was in breach of Article 8 ECHR (right to respect for private and family life). Under the Crime and Security Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) the then Government therefore introduced different retention periods for various categories of material, one of which was biometric material taken from a person subject to a control order, and also introduced provisions allowing the retention of such material beyond the prescribed periods where necessary for national security purposes. These provisions of the 2010 Act were also never commenced (see below paragraph on the Coalition Government’s position on the retention of DNA). Both sets of provisions are repealed by the Act.