– 125 – (5.1 – Sectors/General) 5 SECTORS 5.1 General R 1115 (C-1997) International Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Legal Interception of Telecommunications The Council, noting a) that many Member countries of the ITU permit their law enforcement and national security agencies, under controlled conditions, to intercept telecommunications services; b) that the law enforcement and national security agencies of a significant number of ITU member countries have agreed on a generic set of requirements for legal interception (the International Requirements for Interception, IUR); c) that the costs of legal interception capability and associated disruptions can be lessened by providing for the capability at the design stage; and d) that such reduction of costs and disruptions could lead to more efficient provision and development of telecommunications infrastructure, considering a) that the provision of a technical capability for interception in relevant standards would not intrude on the sovereign right of countries to decide whether and under what conditions they will permit legal interception; and b) that the consideration of requirements for legal interception could fall within the responsibility of both the ITU-R and the ITU-T, further noting that some countries are in urgent need of results in this area, requests the ITU-R and the ITU-T to give priority to questions on the subject which administrations request them to study.8 Ref.: Documents C97/135 and C97/138. ____________________ 8 It is understood that all ITU-T and ITU-R studies will be based on contributions by administrations.