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Interception
of Communications Bill, 2006 (H.B. 4, 2006)
November 07,
2006
Note: Originally gazetted Friday 26 May, 2006
This is the
"new consolidated text" of the Bill which has replaced
the original
Bill (H.B. 4, 2006) pursuant to a motion approved by the House
of Assembly on Tuesday 7th November, 2006.
This text has
since been replaced by the "second
consolidated text" of the Bill, which was presented 8th
May 2007.
Review
the differences between the two versions of HB 4, 2006
View
the previous version of HB 4, 2006
View
the Index of articles on the Interception of Communications Bill
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Interception
of Communications Bill,
2006
MEMORANDUM
The purpose
of this Bill is to establish an interception of communication monitoring
centre and for the appointment of persons to that centre whose function
shall be to monitor and intercept certain communications in the
course of their transmission through a telecommunication, postal
or any other related service system. In more detail the Bill provides
as follows:
Part I
The Bill’s short title is set out in clause 1. Clause 2 defines
the terms that are used throughout the Bill.
Part II
This Part will establish a monitoring centre which shall be the
sole facility through which authorised interceptions shall be effected.
The centre shall be controlled and operated by technical experts
designated by the agency.
Part III
The persons who are authorised to make applications for interception
of communications include the Chief of the Defence Intelligence,
the Director-General of the President’s department of national
security, the Commissioner of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the
Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. Under this
Part the Minister is authorised to issue an interception warrant
to authorised persons where there are reasonable grounds for the
Minister to believe (among other things) that a serious offence
has been or is being or will probably be committed or that there
is threat to safety or national security of the country. The warrant
issued by the Minister shall be valid for a period not exceeding
three months and must specify the name and address of an interception
target. No court shall accept as evidence where such evidence has
been obtained by means of any interception committed in contravention
of this Act. Furthermore a telecommunication service provider is
required to install hardware and software facilities and devices
to enable interception of communications and also that the telecommunication
service can store communication-related information and how the
service could be connected with the communication monitoring centre
or the manner in which information can be re-routed to the monitoring
centre. The telecommunication service provider shall be assisted
or compensated for the assistance he or she may provide to the Authority
or the monitoring centre.
Part IV
This Part will provide for the application procedure for the detention
of any suspicious postal article. An authorised person may apply
to the Minister for a detention order to detain and examine the
postal article where the authorised person has reasonable grounds
to suspect that the postal article contains anything in respect
of which an offence or attempted offence is being committed.
Part V
This Part will provide for the general restrictions on disclosure
of any information which an individual may have obtained in the
exercise of his or her duties in terms of this Act. The authorised
person is also required to destroy as soon as possible after use
any intercepted material.
Any person
who may be aggrieved by a warrant, directive or order issued to
or by the Authority, authorised person or the agency may appeal
to the Administrative Court and the Administrative Court may confirm,
vary or set aside the warrant, directive or order appealed against.
Provision is
also made for the review by the Attorney-General of the Minister’s
exercise of the power to issue warrants under this Act.
The Minister
under this Part is empowered to make regulations providing for all
matters which by this Act are required to prescribed or which in
his opinion, are necessary or convenient to be prescribed.
Interception
of Communications Bill, 2006
Arrangement of Sections
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Section
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
PART II
CONTROL OF INTERCEPTION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF A MONITORING CENTRE
3. Control of interception.
4. Establishment of monitoring centre.
PART III
APPLICATION FOR LAWFUL INTERCEPTION OF COMMUNICATIONS
5. Authorised persons
to apply for warrant of interception.
6. Issue of warrant.
7. Scope of warrant and renewal thereof.
8. Evidence obtained by unlawful interception not admissible in
criminal proceedings
9. Assistance by service providers.
10. Duties of telecommunications service provider in relation to
customer.
11. Notice of disclosure of protected information.
12. Interception capability of telecommunication service.
13. Compensation payable to service provider or protected information
key holder.
PART IV
POSTAL ARTICLES
14. Application for
detention order.
15. Examination and accountability for detained postal articles.
PART V
GENERAL
16. Restriction on disclosure.
17. Disposal of intercept product.
18. Appeals.
19. Review of exercise of Minister’s powers under this Act.
20. Regulations.
PRESENTED
BY THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
BILL
To provide for the lawful interception and
monitoring of certain communications in the course of its transmission
through a telecommunication, postal or any other related service
or system in Zimbabwe; to provide for the establishment of the monitoring
centre; and to provide for any other matters connected with or incidental
to the foregoing.
ENACTED by the President
and the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
1 Short
title
This Act may be cited as the Interception of Communications Act
[Chapter 11:20].
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