Moved by
Lord Butler of Brockwell
201A: After Clause 142, insert the following new Clause—
“Offence of unauthorised examination of material
(1) A relevant person who, without lawful authority, knowingly or recklessly fails to comply with the safeguards referred to in section 142 is guilty of an offence.
(2) In this section “relevant person” means a member of the intelligence services.
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a relevant person who shows that he or she acted in the reasonable belief that he or she had lawful authority to engage in the activity to which subsection (1) relates.
(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—
(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales—
(i) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months (or 6 months, if the offence was committed before the commencement of section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003),
(ii) to a fine, or
(iii) to both;
(b) on summary conviction in Scotland—
(i) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months,
(ii) to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or
(iii) to both;
(c) on summary conviction in Northern Ireland—
(i) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months,
(ii) to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or
(iii) to both;
(d) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to a fine, or to both.”