Part 4: Notices Retention, national security and technical capability notices Section 18: Review of notices by the Secretary of State
When a notice is formally given to a TO by the Secretary of State, its obligations become binding on them. If at this point the operator is dissatisfied with the terms of the notice, they have a statutory right to refer the notice (or part of it) to the Secretary of State for review.
	Section 90(4)(a) of the IPA 2016 (data retention notices) specifies that during that review period the TO is not required to make any changes to specifically comply with the notice. This requirement is replicated in section 257(3)(a) (national security and technical capability notices). This ensures consistency across all notice types.
	Section 90(4A) of the IPA 2016 specifies that the TO must not make any relevant changes which relates to obligations within the notice. Subsection (4B) defines "relevant change", This proposal would preserve the status quo during the review period, meaning if the TO was providing assistance in relation to warrants, authorisations or notices under the IPA 2016 then this assistance must continue during the review period. This requirement is replicated in section 257(3A) and (3B) to ensure consistency across all notice types.
	Section 90(5) of the IPA 2016 (data retention notices) is amended to specify that the Secretary of State must review a notice before the end of the review period and decide what action to take under subsection (10). This requirement is replicated in section 257(4) (national security and technical capability notices) to ensure consistency across all notice types.
	Section 90(5A) of the IPA 2016 (data retention notices) defines the "review period". This amendment introduces a new regulation making power, enabling the Secretary of State to specify in regulations the overall length of time a review of a notice can take. This requirement is replicated in section 257(4A) (national security and technical capability notices) to ensure consistency across all notice types.
	Section 90(9A) and (9B) of the IPA 2016 (data retention notices) make provisions for a JC to give a direction to the operator and Secretary of State specifying the time period within which both parties may provide evidence or representations and the power to disregard any submissions provided outside these timescales. This requirement is replicated in Section 257(8A) and (8B) (national security and technical capability notices) to ensure consistency across all notice types.
	The amendment to Section 90(10) of the IPA 2016 (data retention notices) ensures the Secretary of State must, after considering the conclusions of the TAB and JC, decide what action to take before the end of the "relevant period". This requirement is replicated in section 257(9) (national security and technical capability notices) to ensure consistency across all notice types.
	Section 90(11A) of the IPA 2016 (data retention notices) defines the "relevant period". This amendment introduces a new regulation making power, enabling the Secretary of State to specify in regulations the length of time the Secretary of State can take to reach a decision. This requirement is replicated in section 257(10A) (national security and technical capability notices) to ensure consistency across all notice types.
	Section 90(14)-(16) of the IPA 2016 (data retention notices) makes provision for the Secretary of State to include in regulations made pursuant to these sections, provisions to extend any period of time provided for by the regulations, the circumstances in which the Secretary of State may extend the review period and the relevant period and the associated requirements if an extension is sought. These requirements are replicated in Section 257(13)-(15) (national security and technical capability notices) to ensure consistency across all data types.
	The amendment to 267(3) of the IPA 2016 applies the affirmative procedure to regulations made under these sections.
	The amendment to section 95(5) of the IPA 2016 ensures (data retention notices) that the new duty under section 90(4A) is enforceable by current mechanisms specified in this section. This requirement is replicated in section 255(10) (national security and technical capability notices) in relation to the new duty under section 257(3A).
	The further amendment to section 255(10) of the IPA 2016 ensures subsection (8), the prohibition of revealing the existence of notices, is enforceable by current mechanisms specified in this section, just as subsection already 9 is. This is to ensure consistency across all notice types.