On Tuesday Parliament adopted the Ministry of Interior’s Counter-terrorism Bill, as a result of which the Counter-terrorism Intelligence and Criminal Analysis Centre (CTICAC) will be established. The legislative amendment also regulates restrictions on encrypted telephone services.
The elements of the Bill which required a two-thirds majority vote were approved by Members of Parliament with 185 votes for (Fidesz/KDNP, MSZP and Jobbik), 6 votes against and 3 abstentions. Elements requiring a simple majority received 182 votes for, 6 votes against and 3 abstentions.
One of the essential elements of the Ministry of Interior’s package of measures is that in future the Coordination Centre against Organised Crime will operate under the name Counter-terrorism Intelligence and Criminal Analysis Centre.
The task of the CTICAC, which will be supervised by the Minister of Interior, will be to process information harmful to national security, law enforcement, public safety or any other fundamental security interest, and through its analyses to compile as comprehensive a picture as possible of terrorist and/or other threats to the nation, the domestic security situation and the state of public safety. It will operate an information system with regard to the above and provide regular evaluation reports to the Government.
The handling of data by the Centre will not, however, be identical to that of other national security services: for instance, it will not have the right to collect information in secret.
Changes made to the original draft of the Bill include a reduction in the remit of the supervising minister and the stipulation that services supervised by other ministries will not automatically provide information to the CTICAC. So, for instance, authorisation will also be required from the Director General of the Information Office or the Military National Security Service before the agencies provide information to other bodies cooperating with the CTICAC, and the minister in charge of the given body must also be informed about the provision of information.
Also included in the Bill during the committee phase is the stipulation that electronic access to the CTICAC database may only be provided if it does not endanger the effective performance of the legislatively defined tasks of the cooperating body; in other cases the data may only be acquired after a one-off request which is freestanding and not part of a continuous series of requests, meaning that the information requested will be received on some form of data storage device.
The new legislation also regulates the restriction of encrypted telephone services. According to the new regulations, service providers may be required to provide all possible data, including encryption-level information, which is essential to enable the utilisation of secret information collection equipment and methods.
Service providers will also be required to conclude agreements with the National Security Service on the conditions for the secret collection of information.
A further change is that in future, in addition to protecting individuals, the Counter-terrorism Centre shall also have the right to perform designated security duties at highlighted locations.
The Police Act has also been amended (at the request of the Socialist Party) to include a category of high-level security measures to be applied if an act of terrorism is carried out or is under preparation “within the area of effect of the act of terrorism”. In addition to identity checks, searches of clothing, buildings and vehicles and confiscation of dangerous materials, this includes possible measures such as interrupting organised events, suspending the operation of public facilities and the restriction of public transport and road traffic.
The police may order the high-level security measures for a maximum period of 72 hours, which may be extended by a similar period if required. However, the National Police Commissioner may decide to maintain the measures even after the deadline expires, if justified by new direct, specific and substantiated information. The minister responsible must inform the relevant parliamentary committee immediately of the extension of measures and the information on which such an extension is based.
The Penal Code will also be amended to include acts of terrorism among the crimes for which minors aged between 12 and 14 may be prosecuted.
It will also become a criminal offence to travel through or out of Hungary with the intention of joining a terrorist organisation, to raise support for terrorism in public or to publish pro-terrorist propaganda.
The majority of the elements of the newly-adopted Bill will come into effect fifteen days after their official publication.