Bill to lift communications secrecy heads to House vote

A bill amending the Constitution of Cyprus to allow the lifting of the confidentiality of private communications will be sent to the House of Representatives (Cyprus) plenum on Thursday as part of efforts to combat terrorism and organised crime.

Chairman of the House legal affairs committee Nicos Tornaritis said on Friday that the procedure was being pushed forward despite objections from Akel.

To amend a constitutional article, at least 38 of the 56 MPs must vote in favour.

Tornaritis, Justice Minister Costas Fitiris and attorney-general George Savvides stressed the need for the legislation to be adopted without delay.

The plenum will first need to approve the bill on revising the Constitution, before voting on the role of the intelligence service and the lifting of confidentiality.

Akel MPs expressed opposition to the lifting of communications confidentiality, while Diko MP Panikos Leonidou suggested that the power should instead be assigned to an independent authority.

Savvides urged the MPs to examine the issue with an open mind and pointed out that Cyprus is perhaps the only EU country that did not have this “superweapon” at its disposal to help combat organised crime and protect national security.

Deputy attorney-general Savvas Angelides said the European Public Prosecutor’s Office had informed the Law Office on Friday morning that the bill should also cover crimes falling under its jurisdiction to allow the exchange of information when necessary.

Head of the Cyprus Intelligence Service (KYP) Tasos Tzionis called for the bills to be passed without restrictive clauses.

“It is absolutely necessary to maintain flexibility,” he explained.

Fitiris said that if adopted, the legislation would provide authorities with “incredibly strong weapons” to combat organised crime and safeguard national security.

The justice minister said the bills regulated the lifting of confidentiality following a written approval by the attorney-general, “when intervention is deemed necessary”.

They further allow listening in to private communications with state-of-the art means and software, the effective cooperation of authorities with telecommunication providers, the regulation of manufacturing and importing surveillance devices and making it a criminal offence to refuse to provide information.

The bill, he added, clarified the mission of KYP to find, collect, evaluate and process information concerning the security of the Republic, including in connection with terrorism, espionage, illegal immigration and modern forms of threats, such as hybrid and cyberattacks.

The personal data protection commissioner and the deputy ministry of digital policy expressed their support to the bills, along with the Bar Association.

However, Bar Association chairman Michalis Vorkas said the association had not been invited to participate in discussions and had only been informed of the content of the bills on Thursday afternoon.

Although he said the association did not intend to create obstacles, he stressed that the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding who authorises the lifting of communications confidentiality should be carefully examined.

“If we do not want to face problems the day after, our suggestion is to examine this carefully,” he said.

Akel MPs also called for respect for fundamental human rights and proposed scrapping a provision that would allow the export of spyware produced in Cyprus, suggesting that such tools should be limited to use by the police and KYP.

Speaking after the meeting, Tornaritis said the bills safeguarded human rights and introduced prison sentences of up to ten years for those who illegally intercept private communications.

“The House of Representatives has a duty to rise to the occasion,” he said. “We must hurry and vote on these bills before the end of the current parliamentary term.”

The House will be dissolved on April 23 ahead of the 2026 Cypriot parliamentary election on May 24.

Tornaritis said there was still time for further discussion before next week’s vote and expressed hope that MPs would “take the best possible decision to defend, first and foremost, the Republic of Cyprus”.