| Short Title: | Electronic Communications Act 2000 |
| Parliament: | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| 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. |
| Royal Assent: | 25 May 2000 |
| Status: | Current |
| Original Text: | http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/ukpga_20000007_en_1 |
| Use New Uk-Leg: | yes |
| Statute Book Chapter: | 2000 c.7 |
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.
By 1999, however, only the security services still hankered after key escrow. 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.