The European Court of Human Rights handed down a significant judgment today in Kennedy v. UK (application no. 26839/05).

A warrant under s. 8(1) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 permits the interception of the communications of a particular person (or particular set of premises). Mr Kennedy sought to challenge the Art. 8 compatibility of the s. 8(1) warrant regime, and in particular sought to criticise its foreseeability. The Court unanimously rejected his challenge and, in a relatively detailed judgment, upheld the compatibility of the domestic law.

The case is also interesting for the Court’s analysis of Mr Kennedy’s Art. 6 complaint. Mr Kennedy had brought domestic proceedings in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which had resulted in two public decisions on legal issues, together with a final ruling that no determination had been made in his favour (i.e. that there had either been no interception, or that any interception that had taken place had been lawful). In Strasbourg, Mr Kennedy complained that the restrictive procedures of the Tribunal had breached Art. 6. In its judgment, the Court avoided deciding whether Art. 6 applied to such proceedings, but went on to confirm that if Art. 6 did apply then the Tribunal’s procedures satisfied its requirements.