Changes to the Investigatory Powers Act risk making the UK “less attractive for investment”, a tech trade association has warned.
The Investigatory Powers Act, introduced in 2016, is being amended to give the intelligence services additional tools to deal with national security threats.
Civil liberty groups have described the existing legislation as the “snoopers charter”. The government said that secure communication technologies “cannot come at a cost to public safety”.
But techUK, which represents the interests of over 1,000 members, has raised two primary concerns with the amendments that it says will undermine the attractiveness of the UK market.
It says the expansion of the Investigatory Powers Act could see foreign companies operating in the UK forced to “take actions that might conflict with their own national laws”.
Separately, a new mechanism requiring certain companies to notify the Home Office of software updates could give the UK government a “de facto power to indefinitely veto” those changes.
On Tuesday Apple told the BBC that these changes are an “unprecedented overreach” by the UK government and could prevent the tech giant from rolling out user protections globally.
The concerns come as the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill completes its final passage in the House of Lords before moving to the House of Commons.
“We are of the view that the proposed changes will exacerbate conflicts of law, hinder technological advancements aimed at improving consumer privacy, integrity and security, and, if emulated by other countries, could negatively impact UK businesses investing overseas,” techUK said in a blog post.
“Taken as a whole, they risk making the UK less attractive for investment, thus contradicting the essence of the prime minister’s plan for a world-leading tech ecosystem.”
The trade body said that “further clarity” is needed from the government on how it will work in practice when overseas companies are involved.
“The first job of government is to keep the country safe,” a government spokesperson told UKTN. “We have always been clear that we support technological innovation and private and secure communications technologies, including end-to-end encryption, but this cannot come at a cost to public safety.
“It is critical that decisions about lawful access, which protect the country from child sexual abusers and terrorists are taken by those who are democratically accountable and approved by parliament.”