Part 3: Law enforcement processing Chapter 6: Supplementary Section 79: National security: certificate
This section provides that a Minister of the Crown (as defined in subsection (12)) may certify that, for the purposes of sections 44(4), 45(4), 48(3) and 68(7) a restriction is necessary and proportionate to protect national security. Subsection (3) provides that such a certificate is to be taken as conclusive evidence that the restriction (both specific and general) is required. A certificate issued by a Minister of the Crown is a means of giving a controller legal certainty as to the application of a restriction. This replicates analogous provisions in section 28 of the 1998 Act. Section 130 below makes provision for the publication of such ministerial certificates.
	Any person directly affected by the issuing of any certificate may appeal to the tribunal to judicially review the decision to issue the certificate (subsections (5) and (6)). A party to proceedings may also challenge the application of a certificate to the processing of particular personal data (subsections (7) to (9)). Such an appeal would be heard by the Upper Tribunal which would apply judicial review principles when determining the appeal. In applying such principles, the Upper Tribunal would be able to consider a wide range of issues, including necessity, proportionality and lawfulness. This would enable, for example, the Upper Tribunal to consider whether the decision to issue the certificate was reasonable, having regard to the impact on the rights of data subjects and balancing the need to safeguard national security.