Review of the operation of the Terrorism Acts 2000 and 2006 in 2010

This report was the second produced by David Anderson QC as independent reviewer. It provided detailed analysis of the operation of the terrorism acts, and 11 recommendations.

It covered the operational background (Al-Qaeda related terrorism; Northern Ireland related terrorism; far right extremism), the counter-terrorism machine in the UK, legal principles, proscribed organisations, terrorist property, terrorist investigations, arrest and detention, stop and search, port and border controls and terrorist offences.

The key recommendations in the report were that:

• there should be a full review of the TA 2000 Schedule 7 power, exercisable without reasonable suspicion, to examine and detain travellers at ports and airports to determine whether they are concerned in terrorism
• proscription of organisations should be time-limited, so that organisations can remain on the proscribed list only if the Secretary of State can satisfy Parliament that they should do so
• the exceptional power for judges to permit more than 14 days pre-charge detention should be triggered by an order made on strict statutory conditions, not by primary legislation as proposed by the government
• the new no-suspicion stop and search power in section 47A of the Terrorism Act 2000 should be used so far as possible on the basis of intelligence or risk factors rather than on a purely random basis, and the statutory guidance should be revised to reflect this.

A full list of recommendations is set out in section 12 of the report.

The Government responded in November 2011.