May I confirm, for the benefit of the Committee, that what the Minister has just said about the intention being that RIPA should extend extraterritorially in these respects is entirely accurate? If hon. Members look at RIPA itself, they will see that section 2(1), which provides definitions, states that
“‘telecommunication system’ means any system (including the apparatus comprised in it) which exists (whether wholly or partly in the United Kingdom or elsewhere)”.
That is but one example—there are many to which I could point—that shows that the clear intention of this
House and the other place was to make this part of the Act extraterritorial. Indeed, we thought that that would be the effect of the Act.