Authority to carry in the United Kingdom: the right to travel, the privatization of security and the rule of law

Abstract:

The rights to enter and exit the United Kingdom are limited in a number of ways which have in common a desire to protect the national security of the country. One of the relevant mechanisms, the legal basis of which has recently been overhauled, is that of ‘authority to carry’ (ATC) schemes, which require transport companies to request permission to bring persons in and out of the UK and punish them if they do so without permission.

This article outlines the relevant law and considers it from two points of view: first, the rule of law issues raised by the past and present operation of the relevant schemes and, second, the lessons of ATC schemes for the privatized enforcement of national security norms and the possible attenuation of the scope for legal accountability for their operation.