Lawmakers to review spy regulations after operations are found to have broken them

Legislation governing covert surveillance by four law enforcement agencies will come under a lawmakers' review early next year as a report released by a retired High Court judge found "irregularities" in their spying activities.

In one case, an officer who applied for a court warrant to carry out interception and surveillance failed to include an assessment of whether the snooping was likely to obtain journalistic material or that protected by legal professional privilege, the report said.

Retired High Court judge Darryl Saw, who is commissioner on interception of communications and surveillance, described this as a "serious matter".

He said: "It was also disconcerting to note that the omission was not detected by the legal enforcement agencies throughout the checking process."

However, Saw said he was satisfied with the overall performance of the agencies.

Enacted in 2006, the Interception of Communications and Surveillance Ordinance regulates only the police, customs, immigration and Independent Commission Against Corruption, but not private detectives, foreign intelligence or hacking activities originating abroad.

Among 1,412 interception and surveillance activities authorised last year, 10 were "non-compliant" or had "irregularities", Saw's annual report on 2013 surveillance activities showed.