RIPA Part I Chapter II consultation

3.34 Relevant to all authorisations and notices is the date upon which authorisation is granted or notice given. From that date, when the authorisation or notice becomes valid, it has a validity of a maximum of one month.^[51] This means the conduct authorised should have been commenced or the notice served within that month.

• ^[51] Throughout this Code, a month means a period of time extending from a date in one calendar month to the date one day before the corresponding date in the following month. (When there is no corresponding date the period shall end on the day that would have been the corresponding date had a new month not begun. For example, a month beginning on 7 June ends on 6 July, a month beginning on 30 January ends on 29 February in a leap year or 1 March in a non-leap year.)

3.35 All authorisations and notices should refer to the acquisition or disclosure of data relating to a specific date or period.^[52] Any period should be clearly indicated in the authorisation or notice. The start date and end date should be given, and where a precise start and end time are relevant these must be specified.^[53] Where the data to be acquired or disclosed is specified as ‘current’, the relevant date should be taken to be the date on which the authorisation was granted or the notice served on a CSP. There can be circumstances when the relevant date or period cannot be specified other than ‘the last transaction’ or ‘the most recent use of the service’.

• ^[52] For example, details of traffic data or service use on a specific date or for a specific period or the details of a subscriber on a specific date or for a specific period.

• ^[53] In the case of Internet Protocol data, any timings should include an explicit indication of which time zone applies to those timings.

3.36 Where an authorisation or a notice relates to the acquisition or obtaining of specific data that will or may be generated in the future, the future period is restricted to no more than one month from the date upon which the authorisation was granted or the notice given.

3.37 Designated persons should give particular consideration to any periods of days or shorter periods of time for which they may approve for the acquisition or disclosure of historic or future data. They should specify the shortest period in which the objective for which the data is sought can be achieved. To do otherwise will impact on the proportionality of the authorisation or notice and impose unnecessary burden upon a CSP given such notice.