Obligations are imposed on any person running a telecommunication system by means of their telecommunications licence issued under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 under which the system is lawfully run. Telecommunications licences are granted under the authority of the Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry. Oftel is responsible for enforcing the licence conditions they contain.

However there are other regulatory authorities and agencies, government and non-government, which in appropriate circumstances are empowered to impose additional obligations on licence holders, in particular on those running public telecommunication systems. In order to help operators and service providers meet their statutory and non-statutory obligations, a list of some of these agencies with a brief description of their activities and their web addresses follows. The list is not exhaustive and Oftel would welcome inputs from operators or the agencies themselves on additional names that should be listed here.

Statutory authorities

Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office's role is to support the Government's delivery and reform programme. One of its key objectives is to co-ordinate security, intelligence and civil contingencies matters to protect the UK against disruptive challenges on which the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (next entry) leads.

www.cabinet-office.gov.uk

The Civil Contingencies Secretariat

The CCS is part of the Cabinet Office. It was established in July 2001, to improve the resilience of Central Government and the UK. Resilience is defined as our ability to handle disruptive challenges that can lead to or result in crisis. The aim of the CCS is to improve the UK's resilience through working with others inside and outside Government on anticipation, preparation, prevention and resolution. The website includes a section on Web and Internet alerts.

www.ukresilience.info/

Competition Commission

The Competition Commission is an independent public body established by the Competition Act 1998 ("the Act"). The Commission replaced the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) on 1 April 1999.

The Commission has two distinct functions. On its reporting side, the Commission has taken on the former MMC role of carrying out inquiries into matters referred to it by the other UK competition authorities concerning monopolies, mergers and the economic regulation of utility companies. Secondly, the newly established Appeal Tribunals hear appeals against decisions of the Director General of Fair Trading and the Regulators of utilities in respect of infringements of the prohibitions contained in the Act concerning anti-competitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position.

www.competition-commission.org.uk

Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (Fire Policy Unit):

The 999 Liaison Committee

The 999 Liaison Committee brings together the Emergency Services (police, fire, ambulance and coastguard), the call handling agents (BT, Cable & Wireless and Kingston Communications) and the Public Network Operators (fixed and mobile). It is chaired by the Fire Policy Unit, Fire and Emergency Planning Directorate, and provides a forum for the Emergency Authorities and the Public Telecommunication Operators to discuss matters arising from the provision of the 999 emergency call service.

www.safety.dtlr.gov.uk/fire/fepd/999/index.htm

Disability Rights Commission

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) is an independent body set up by the Government to help secure civil rights for disabled people. Its statutory duties are:

• To work to eliminate discrimination against disabled people.
• To promote equal opportunities for disabled people.
• To encourage good practice in the treatment of disabled people.
• To advise the Government on the working of disability legislation (the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 and the Disability Rights Commission Act 1999).

www.drc-gb.org

Office of Fair Trading

The Office of Fair Trading’s objectives are to protect consumers, promote their interests and encourage competition.

www.oft.gov.uk

Home Office:

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) updates the law on the interception of communications to take account of technological change such as the growth of the Internet. It also puts other intrusive investigative techniques on a statutory footing for the very first time; provides new powers to help combat the threat posed by rising criminal use of strong encryption; and ensures that there is independent judicial oversight of the powers in the Act. Communication service providers may be obliged to maintain an interception capability, to comply with interception warrants and to make communications data available to appropriate authorities.

www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ripa/ripact.htm

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act

The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 is intended to enhance anti-terrorist and security capability. It does this via measures that include, amongst others, intelligence measures on the retention of communications data by communications service providers. Communications data is information about the use made of communications by a service provider’s customers, e.g. subscriber details, itemised billing. It does not include the content of such communications, i.e. what was said over the phone or written in an email.

www.homeoffice.gov.uk/oicd/antiterrorism/index.htm

Technical Advisory Board (TAB):

The TAB is an advisory non-departmental public body (NDPB). It was established in May 2002 in accordance with section 13 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). It provides advice to the Home Secretary on the reasonableness of obligations imposed upon communications service providers (CSPs) in order to ensure that they maintain a capability to intercept communications.

www.technicaladvisoryboard.org.uk

Independent Television Commission

The ITC licenses and regulates commercial television in the UK. It looks after viewers’ interests by setting and maintaining the standards for programmes, advertising and technical quality. As its name suggests, it is independent of the Government and of the broadcasters and funded from fees which its licensees have to pay.

www.itc.org.uk

National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre

The creation of the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre (NISCC) was announced by the Home Secretary in December 1999. It is an interdepartmental organisation set up to co-ordinate and develop existing work within Government departments and agencies and organisations in the private sector to defend the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) which includes telecommunications, against electronic attack.

www.niscc.gov.uk

National Radiological Protection Board

The statutory functions of NRPB under the Radiological Protection Act 1970 are by means of research and otherwise, to advance the acquisition of knowledge about the protection of mankind from radiation hazards, and to provide information and advice to persons (including Government Departments) with responsibilities in the United Kingdom in relation to the protection from radiation hazards either of the community as a whole or of particular sections of the community.

NRPB was also given the power to provide technical services to persons concerned with radiation hazards, and to make charges for such services, and for providing information and advice. In the Act, the term "radiation hazards" means the dangers of ionising radiations emitted by radioactive substances and other sources and radiations which are electromagnetic but not ionising.

www.nrpb.org.uk

Office of the Information Commissioner

The Commissioner is an independent supervisory authority and has an international role as well as a national one. In the UK the Commissioner has a range of duties including the promotion of good information handling and the encouragement of codes of practice for data controllers, that is, anyone who decides how and why personal data, (information about identifiable, living individuals) are processed.

www.dataprotection.gov.uk

Radiocommunications Agency

The Radiocommunications Agency is an Executive Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry. It is responsible for the management of the non-military radio spectrum in the UK, which involves international representation, commissioning research, allocating spectrum and licensing its use, and keeping the radio spectrum clean.

www.radio.gov.uk

Non-statutory authorities

Advertising Standards Authority

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the independent, self-regulatory body for non-broadcast advertisements in the UK. ASA administers the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion to ensure that ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful.

www.asa.org.uk

ICSTIS

ICSTIS, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services, regulates the content and promotion of all services charged at a premium rate, including those accessed by fixed and mobile phone, fax, pc and interactive tv.

www.icstis.org.uk

Internet Watch Foundation

The Internet Watch Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation established to address the problem of illegal material on the Net, with particular reference to child pornography.

It also provides guidance on risks to children on the Internet, and how to avoid them.

www.iwf.org.uk

Note: Much of the information in this guide has been sourced from the organisations' websites. Please refer to these websites for further information.