TRADING standards officers in Redcar and Cleveland were authorised on four occasions over the last financial year to use covert surveillance as part of their investigations, a report has revealed.

Applications were successfully made to magistrates who approved the use of powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA).

The investigations related to the illegal sale of counterfeit goods on social media.

Meanwhile, a further four applications, which again required approval from a magistrate, were made for the use of covert human intelligence sources.

These enabled trading standards officers to engage with the counterfeit sellers to make test purchases.

The eight applications in total in 2019/20 were a significant increase on 2018/19’s figure of two, which again involved surveillance by trading standards officers, and the highest number since 2016/17.

A report to Redcar and Cleveland Council’s governance committee said that local authorities had powers under RIPA to undertake “directed surveillance” and acquire communications data as part of enforcement activities and investigations. 

Directed surveillance involves using covert methods of surveillance where there is a likelihood of private information being obtained.

However the powers do not extend to intrusive surveillance – such as within a home or in a private vehicle – and operations can only be carried out for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime.

The role of the magistrate is to ensure that correct procedures have been followed and the relevant factors have been taken account of – if not an approval, which is usually given by a council monitoring officer or legal manager, can be quashed.

Following concerns about the use of RIPA a Home Office review recommended that where local councils want to authorise directed surveillance it should be confined to cases where the offence being investigated carries a custodial sentence of six months or more.

A record of all authorisations and associated paperwork must be kept within a central record. 

Meanwhile, enforcement activities falling within the remit of RIPA are subject to monitoring and oversight by the Investigatory Powers Commissioners Office.

It carries out inspections into the use of investigatory powers available to public bodies to ensure they are used lawfully and in line with best practice.