Electronic Communications Act 2000
 | |
| Long title | An Act to make provision to facilitate the use of electronic communications and electronic data storage; to make provision about the modification of licences granted under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984; and for connected purposes. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2000 c.7 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 25 May 2000 |
Status: Current legislation | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. | |
The Electronic Communications Act 2000 (c.7) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that:
- Had provisions to regulate the provision of cryptographic services in the UK (ss.1-6); and
- Confirms the legal status of electronic signatures (ss.7-10).
The United Kingdom government had come to the conclusion that encryption, encryption services and electronic signatures would be important to e-commerce in the UK.[1]
By 1999, however, only the security services still hankered after key escrow.[citation needed] So a "sunset clause" was put in the bill. The Electronic Communications Act 2000 gave the Home Office the power to create a registration regime for encryption services. This was given a five-year period before it would automatically lapse, which eventually happened in May 2006.
References[edit]
- ^ Ward, Mark (2 August 2000). "Net leaves the law behind". BBC News Online.
External links[edit]
- An account from the Foundation For Information Policy Research Archived 6 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- Text of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
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