Only a judge can authorize phone tapping, says new Telecommunications Bill – Mozambique

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Only a judge can authorize phone tapping, says new Telecommunications Bill – Mozambique

4:35 CAT | 18 Mar 2016

In File Club of Mozambique

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Wednesday passed the second and final reading of a government bill on telecommunications, but only after it had been amended to make clear that phones may only be tapped if the interception is authorized by a criminal investigation judge.

The clause on phone tapping was the reason why the bill did not progress beyond its first reading when it came before the Assembly last November.

The original version of the bill merely stated that phone tapping must be authorized by “the relevant authority”.

This was not good enough for deputies of main opposition party Renamo who insisted that the bill should stipulate that only a court can order a phone tap. Without that explicit guarantee, Renamo voted against the bill, while the majority Frelimo Party and the deputies of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) voted in favour.

With fears that the bill might be challenged on constitutional grounds unless it was amended, the government agreed to change the clause on phone tapping to make it absolutely clear that this must be authorized by a judge.

This overcame Renamo’s objection, but the MDM suddenly changed its mind, and voted against the bill on its second reading, believing that even judicial authorization was not a sufficient safeguard. Explaining his party’s position, MDM deputy Armando Artur claimed that the bill would not prevent “the interception of phone calls of political opponents”.

The bill thus passed its final vote with the 202 Frelimo and Renamo deputies present voting in favour and the 14 MDM deputies voting against.

Most of the rest of the bill is little changed from the November 2015 version. The bill will oblige mobile phone operators to share facilities, so that there will be a single infrastructure carrying a wide variety of services.

Transport and Communications Minister Carlos Mesquita had declared in November that the legal framework “seeks to guarantee the licensing and operation of communications services in an environment of technological convergence and the flexibility to deal with rapid changes and to stimulate competition in the telecommunications market”.

On Wednesday the Assembly also passed unanimously an uncontroversial bill amending the country’s civil aviation legislation.

The main purpose of the bill is to strengthen the regulatory power of the Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute (IACM). Introducing the bill, Mesquita pointed out that across the globe civil aviation is heavily regulated.

Mozambique, he said, “must being the current legal regime into line, so that it guarantees observance of the international norms, standards and procedures prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)”

It is alleged weaknesses in the IACM’s supervisory role which have led the European Union to bar airlines registered in Mozambique from flying in EU airspace.

Source: AIM