38 Human Rights in Counter-Terrorism Investigations The OSCE commitments are explicit, in that any searches and seizures of persons, private premises and property must take place in accordance with the law and standards that are judicially enforceable. 45 Legislation must specify in detail the precise circumstances in which any such interference is permitted, and the decision to interfere rests only with the authority designated by law. 46 A series of ECtHR rulings dealing specifically with telephone tapping, provide useful guidance on what such laws should entail. 47 Such laws should: • set out the categories of persons whose telephones may be tapped; • spell out the nature of the offences justifying the use of tapping; • indicate the duration of the measure; • explain the procedure for drawing up the summary reports containing intercepted conversations; • identify the precautions to be taken in order to communicate the recordings intact and in their entirety for possible inspection by the judge and the defence; and • clarify the circumstances, including a time-limit, in which they are to be erased or destroyed, in particular following discharge or acquittal of the accused. 48 These principles also serve as useful guidance in cases of electronic surveillance. The interception of communications entails a high probability of what might be termed “collateral intrusion” into the private lives of people who may not be involved in any criminality and into issues that are not linked to the investigation being undertaken. 45464748 45 46 47 48 OSCE Moscow Document, op. cit. note 21, para. 24. United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC), General Comment No. 16, Article 17: The right to respect of privacy, family, home and correspondence, and protection of honour and reputation, 8 April 1988, para. 8, <http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/23378a87 24595410c12563ed004aeecd>. ECtHR judgments are legally binding on the member States of the Council of Europe. Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights: A Manual, op. cit. note 19, p. 205, footnote 687.