Always remember to seek professional legal advice on any matters that may rise from the information presented.

Email communication and monitoring within a UK workplace is governed and regulated by many UK laws, regulations and government guidelines.

These regulations are trying to get the correct balance between the protection of the employer and the rights to privacy for employee communication. 

Some of the laws concerning this matter are listed below.

Relevant UK/EU Acts

- Computer Misuse Act 1990
- Data Protection Act 1998
- Defamation Act 1996
- Electronic Communications Bill 2000
- Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
- Employment Relations Act 2004
- Parts 1 & 2EU Working Party on Work Monitoring WP55 (5401/01/EN/Final)
- Interception of Communications Act 1985
- Human Rights Act 1998
- The Data Protection (Processing of Sensitive Personal Data) Order 2000
- The Information Commissioner’s Employment Practices Data Protection Code, Section 3, Monitoring at Work
- The Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations (LBPR) 2000
- UK Employment Equality Act 1998
- Freedom of Information Act (2000)
- Obscene Publications Act 1959 (does the article have a tendency to deprave or corrupt the persons who are likely to read, see or hear it?)
- Public Order Act 1986 (prohibit the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displaying any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting with the intention of stirring up racial hatred or where racial hatred is likely to be stirred up)
- The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 ('racially aggravated offences')

As the Acceptable Use Policy is a published corporate document, other laws concerning employment law and working practices will also be relevant and will need to be investigated.

To view the more details on the relevant laws, please click here

Expect UK laws to be updated with EU laws (which have stronger rights to privacy for employees) as more case law is passed to the EU courts.