U.S., U.K. improve anti-corruption coordination with data access agreement
By Neil Hodge2022-10-12T20:47:00
A new agreement will allow law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom and United States to gain better access to emails, messages, photos, and texts held by tech and telecommunications firms from the other’s country as part of evidence gathering for complex white-collar crimes.
The data access agreement between the countries, authorized by the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act in the United States, entered force Oct. 3. Under the terms of the pact, data requests by the countries can only be made for offenses that relate to the prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of serious crime that could result in a maximum jail term of at least three years, such as fraud, bribery, and money laundering.
The Department of Justice will oversee the agreement in the United States, with the U.K. Home Office serving as its counterpart.