Appropriate permission granted by a judicial authority para 9.4 to 9.10
Appropriate permission granted by a judicial authority
9.4 Public authorities may always seek appropriate permission for giving a section 49 notice from a judicial authority. Any member of a public authority will have appropriate permission if, and only if, written permission for giving the notice has been granted by:
- a Circuit judge, in England and Wales;
- a sheriff, in Scotland; or
- a county court judge, in Northern Ireland
9.5 Where such a judicial authority has granted appropriate permission to give a section 49 notice, no further permission from any other person is required.
Appropriate permission granted by a person holding judicial office
9.6 Public authorities may obtain appropriate permission for giving a section 49 notice from persons holding judicial office where protected information is likely to be, or has been, obtained under a warrant issued by such a person holding judicial office, that is to say:
- any judge of the Crown Court or of the High Court of Justice;
- any sheriff;
- any justice of the peace;
- any resident magistrate in Northern Ireland; or
- any person holding any such judicial office as entitles him to exercise the jurisdiction of a judge of the Crown Court or of a justice of the peace.
9.7 Appropriate permission may be given by the person who issues or issued the warrant or by a person holding judicial office who would have been entitled to issue the warrant. Such permission might be granted, for example, in relation to a search warrant or production order under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 as amended or the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 as amended.
9.8 Any person will have appropriate permission if:
- protected information is obtained, the warrant contained explicit permission for giving section 49 notices in relation to protected information to be obtained under the warrant or,
- subsequent to the issue of the warrant, written permission is granted for giving section 49 notices in relation to protected information obtained under the warrant.
9.9 Only a person who was entitled to exercise the power conferred by the warrant or who is a person on whom the power conferred by the warrant was, or could have been, conferred may have appropriate permission in relation to protected information obtained, or to be obtained, under a warrant issued by a person holding judicial office.
9.10 Where protected information is obtained under a statutory power without a warrant in the course of, or in connection with, the execution of a warrant containing appropriate permission, or where material unconnected with a search warrant is lawfully seized, for example under section 19 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 ('PACE'), appropriate permission for giving a notice in respect of that additional information will be required.