Criminal Justice (Offences Relating to Information Systems) Act 2017

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Amendment of Criminal Damage Act 1991

13. The Criminal Damage Act 1991 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1) of section 1—

(i) in the definition of “to damage”—

(I) in paragraph (a), by the deletion of “other than data (but including a storage medium in which data are kept)”, and

(II) by the deletion of paragraph (b),

(ii) by the deletion of the definition of “data”, and

(iii) in the definition of “property”, by the deletion of paragraph (b),

(b) by the deletion of section 5,

(c) in subsection (2) of section 6, by the deletion of paragraph (b),

(d) in section 7—

(i) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “offence under section 2 alleged to have been committed by a person outside the State in relation to property situate within the State” for “offence under section 2 or 5 alleged to have been committed by a person outside the State in relation to data kept within the State or other property so situate”,

(ii) in subsection (2) —

(I) in paragraph (b), by the substitution of “authorised it” for “authorised it, unless the property concerned is data and the person charged is an employee or agent of the person keeping the data”, and

(II) by the deletion of paragraph (c),

and

(iii) by the deletion of subsection (3),

and

(e) in section 13—

(i) in subsection (1), by the deletion of paragraph (c),

(ii) in subsection (2), by the substitution of “aforesaid.” for “aforesaid and, if the property concerned is data or the search warrant has been issued on a ground referred to in subsection (1) (c), to operate, or cause to be operated by a person accompanying him for that purpose, any equipment in the premises for processing data, inspect any data found there and extract information therefrom, whether by the operation of such equipment or otherwise.”, and

(iii) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (4):

“(5) (a) Notwithstanding the commencement of section 13 of the CriminalJustice (Offences Relating to Information Systems) Act 2017, a search warrant may, on and after that commencement, be issued under this section, as this section was in force immediately before that commencement, in respect of an information on oath referred to in subsection (1) that relates to matters arising or occurring before that commencement.

(b) For the purposes of the issue and execution of a search warrant under this section where paragraph (a) applies, the other provisions of this Act shall apply for those purposes as those provisions were in force immediately before the commencement referred to in that paragraph.”.