Electronic Communications Act 2000

The Electronic Communications Act 2000 (c.7) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that:

• Had provisions to regulate the provision of cryptographic services in the UK (ss.1-6); and
• Confirms the legal status of electronic signatures (ss.7-10).

Electronic Communications Act 2000

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.
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Text of statute as originally enacted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 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. 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.