Commonwealth Numbered Acts

TELECOMMUNICATIONS (INTERCEPTION) ACT 1979 No. 114 of 1979 - SECT 11

11. (1) Where, upon receipt by the Attorney-General of a request by the
Director-General of Security for the issue of a warrant under this sub-section
in relation to a person, the Attorney-General is satisfied that-

   (a)  that person is engaged in, or is reasonably suspected by the
        Director-General of Security of being engaged in, or of being likely
        to engage in, activities prejudicial to security; and

   (b)  access by the Organization to telegrams lodged by or on behalf of, or
        addressed to or intended to be received by, that person will, or is
        likely to, assist the Organization in carrying out its function of
        obtaining intelligence relevant to security, the Attorney-General may,
        by warrant under his hand, authorize the Commission-

   (c)  to inspect and make copies of telegrams lodged by, or on behalf of,
        that person at a specified telegraph office, or addressed to, or
        intended to be received by, that person at a specified place; and

   (d)  to furnish the copies of those telegrams referred to in paragraph (c)
        to the Director-General of Security.

(2) Where-

   (a)  the Director-General of Security has forwarded or made a request to
        the Attorney-General for the issue of a warrant under sub-section (1)
        in relation to a person;

   (b)  the Attorney-General has not, to the knowledge of the Director-General
        of Security, issued, or refused to issue, a warrant as a result of
        that request and has not, within the preceding period of 3 months,
        refused to issue a substantially similar warrant;

   (c)  the Director-General of Security has not, within the preceding period
        of 3 months, issued a substantially similar warrant; and

   (d)  the Director-General of Security is satisfied-

        (i)    that the facts of the case would justify the issue of a warrant
               by the Attorney-General; and

        (ii)   that, if the action to be authorized by the warrant does not
               commence before a warrant can be issued and made available by
               the Attorney-General, security will be, or is likely to be,
               seriously prejudiced, the Director-General of Security may, by
               warrant under his hand, authorize the Commission-

   (e)  to inspect and make copies of telegrams lodged by, or on behalf of,
        that person at a specified telegraph office, or addressed to, or
        intended to be received by, that person at a specified place; and

   (f)  to furnish the copies of those telegrams referred to in paragraph (e)
        to the Director-General of Security.

(3) A request for the issue of a warrant made to the Attorney-General under
sub-section (1) shall specify the facts and other grounds on which the
Director-General of Security considers it necessary that the warrant should be
issued and, where relevant, the grounds on which the Director-General of
Security suspects a person of being engaged in, or of being likely to be
engaged in, activities prejudicial to security.

(4) Where the Director-General of Security makes a request under sub-section
(1), otherwise than in writing, for the issue of a warrant, he shall forthwith
forward to the Attorney-General a request in writing for the issue of that
warrant.

(5) A warrant under this section shall specify the period for which it is to
remain in force, being a period not exceeding-

   (a)  in the case of a warrant issued by the Attorney-General-6 months; or

   (b)  in the case of a warrant issued by the Director-General of Security-48
        hours, but may be revoked by the Attorney-General at any time before
        the expiration of the period so specified.

(6) Sub-section (5) shall not be construed as preventing the issue of any
further warrant in relation to a person in relation to whom a warrant has, or
warrants have, previously been issued.

(7) Where the Director-General of Security issues a warrant under this
section, he shall forthwith furnish to the Attorney-General-

   (a)  a copy of the warrant; and

   (b)  a statement of the grounds on which he is satisfied as to the matters
        referred to in sub-paragraph (2) (d) (ii).

(8) The authority conferred by a warrant issued under this section on the
Commission may be exercised only by-

   (a)  the Managing Director of the Commission; and

   (b)  officers of the Commission approved, for the purposes of that warrant
        or of warrants issued under this section, by the
        Managing Director of the Commission or by an officer of the Commission
        appointed by the Managing Director of the Commission, in writing, to
        be an authorizing officer of the Commission for the purposes of this
        section.

(9) Nothing in the Telecommunications Act 1975 shall be taken to prohibit the
doing of anything in pursuance of, or for the purposes of, a warrant under
this section.

(10) In this section-

   (a)  a reference to a telegraph office shall be read as a reference to a
        place where telegrams may be accepted for transmission by or on behalf
        of the Commission;

   (b)  a reference to telegrams lodged by, or on behalf of, a person shall be
        read as including a reference to telegrams lodged, by means of a
        telecommunications service, by, or on behalf of, a person;

   (c)  a reference to telegrams addressed to, or intended to be received by,
        a person at a specified place shall be read as including a reference
        to-

        (i)    telegrams addressed to, or intended to be received by, a person
               at a specified post office box or at a specified post office
               for collection by that person;

        (ii)   telegrams addressed to a person and intended to be received by
               the person by means of a specified bag service; and

        (iii)  telegrams addressed to a person by reference to the number of a
               telecommunications service.