The Draft Communications Data Bill (nicknamed the Snoopers' Charter or Snooper's Charter) is draft legislation proposed by then Home Secretary Theresa May in the United Kingdom which would require Internet service providers and mobile phone companies to maintain records of each user's internet browsing activity (including social media), email correspondence, voice calls, internet gaming, and mobile phone messaging services and store the records for 12 months. Retention of email and telephone contact data for this time is already required by the Data Retention Regulations 2014. The anticipated cost is £1.8 billion.
May originally expected the bill to be introduced in the 2012–13 legislative session, carried over to the following session, and enacted as law in 2014. However, the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg withdrew his support for this bill in April 2013 and his Liberal Democrat party blocked it from being reintroduced during the 2010-2015 Parliament. Shortly after the Conservative victory in May 2015, Theresa May vowed to introduce the Communications Data Bill in the next parliament. In November 2015, May announced a new Investigatory Powers Bill similar to the Draft Communications Data Bill, although with more limited powers and additional oversight.
The powers and intent of the Bill were preceded by plans under the last Labour administration to improve access to communications traffic data, under the Interception Modernisation Programme. The plans did not become a firm legislative proposal and were strongly opposed by both Conservative and Liberal Democrat opposition parties.
The new coalition agreement in 2010 committed to ending the storing of email and Internet records "without good reason". The IMP was not entirely abandoned however, and the Home Office under the new coalition committed to examining the problem of access to communications data under the Communications Capabilities Development Programme.
The government announced its intention to legislate in order to "maintain capability" of law enforcement access to communications traffic data in 2012.