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. |
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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Text of statute as originally enacted | |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:
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.