The Ministry of the Interior has a special duty to monitor tapping and surveillance of telecommunications as well as so-called technical surveillance. Technical surveillance is defined as including technical eavesdropping, visual surveillance by technical means and technical tracking. The Ministry of Defence has a similar duty with respect to police activities within its own sector of administration.

The Coercive Measures Act requires the Ministry of the Interior to provide the Ombudsman with an annual report on tapping and surveillance of telecommunications and technical surveillance.

The same applies to technical eavesdropping and surveillance of telecommunications as defined in the Police Act. The Ministry of Defence, in turn, provide an annual report on technical eavesdropping conducted in the Defence Forces.

This duty is stipulated in the act regulating the conduct of police functions in the Defence Forces.

The Ombudsman monitors coercive measures affecting telecommunications

Monitoring by the Ombudsman is based primarily on the reports provided by the ministries. In addition, he has on his own initiative tried in the course of on-site inspections and in other ways to investigate problematic situations.

On the basis of the Ministry of the Interior’s report he takes cases under investigation. In addition, a regular contact with the Police Department of the Ministry is maintained, and when necessary training events arranged by it are taken part in.

Although the Ombudsman has only limited opportunities to investigate matters on his own initiative, there has been a recognition that there is a special need to do so in relation to coercive measures affecting telecommunications.

The Ombudsman has received quite few complaints concerning the use of coercive measures affecting telecommunications. Some of the complaints could more properly be described as enquiries, and only a few complaints each year have related to these measures having actually been used.

One reason for this may be the nature of coercive measures: the persons against whom they are used are not always even aware that they have been used at all.

An effective system of oversight is important

The secrecy inevitably associated with coercive measures affecting telecommunications also renders these activities subject to suspicions concerning their legality, irrespective of whether or not grounds exist. Also for this reason, an effective oversight system is important.

Changes in the law on several occasions in recent years have broadened the scope of application of coercive measures affecting telecommunications. The number of orders granted by courts has likewise been constantly growing.