Photo by Heino Eisner
The UK Government has published proposals for new laws to protect the subsea cables, pipelines and interconnectors that carry most of the country’s data and much of its energy. The White Paper would replace a principal offence dating back to 1885 with a modern criminal regime, carrying sentences of up to 14 years for deliberately damaging critical undersea infrastructure. It also introduces new duties and powers for the subsea telecoms sector. A 12-week consultation runs until 14 January 2027.
The stakes are significant. According to the White Paper, subsea cables carry around 99% of the UK’s international data traffic and pipelines provide 74% of its gas supply. Dependence is set to grow as offshore wind and interconnector capacity expand.
A Victorian law
In a joint foreword, telecoms minister Ian Murray and energy minister Michael Shanks said the 1885 offence “refers to ‘telegraphic’ communications, and makes limited provision for energy infrastructure. It fails to provide a satisfactory deterrent.” Under the Submarine Telegraph Act, deliberate damage carries a maximum of five years in prison, The Record reports. The costs of damage can be very large: grid operator Elering put the repair bill for the Estlink 2 cable between Finland and Estonia, damaged by a tanker’s anchor on Christmas Day 2024, at €50 million to €60 million.
Pressure for reform has been building. In April, UK forces spent around a month tracking three Russian submarines in the High North, two of them from Russia’s deep-sea research directorate, which the government said were surveying undersea cables and pipelines, Al Jazeera reported. The ministers’ foreword says such activity “raises serious questions about the security and resilience of CUI globally.”
A year earlier, Parliament’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy had warned that the government was “too timid”, The Register reported. The committee argued that “focusing on fishing accidents and low-level sabotage is no longer good enough.” Its chair, Matt Western, welcomed the White Paper, saying “the legislation covering attacks on undersea cables was written in a different age and it is right that a White Paper has been brought forward to bring it up to date.”
What is proposed
The White Paper sets out four main measures. First, a new criminal regime covering telecoms cables, interconnectors and pipelines, with three tiers of culpability: up to 14 years for intentional conduct, 10 years for reckless conduct and two years for grossly negligent conduct, alongside unlimited fines. Life imprisonment is being considered where conduct risks loss of life or serious harm to national security. Supplementary offences would cover obstructing repairs, falsifying vessel or navigational data and failing to respond to law enforcement.
Second, new security and resilience duties for subsea telecoms providers, backed by fines of up to £10 million or 10% of worldwide revenue. Third, a national security power allowing ministers to direct cable operators and repair providers to take action, which the White Paper says has a threshold that is “deliberately high”. Fourth, a screening regime for fibre-optic sensing technologies deployed on subsea cables, which can detect activity in the surrounding water.
In a written statement to Parliament, Murray said the proposals rest mainly on reserved powers over telecoms, national security and defence, but recognised that “some proposals will interact with devolved responsibilities, including environmental and marine management functions.”
The committee’s call for a UK repair ship remains unresolved. In a parliamentary answer in June, ministers said they were exploring options for UK-based and UK-flagged repair capability, but gave no date for a decision.
Implications for fishing and shipping
The proposals matter well beyond the telecoms sector. The White Paper acknowledges that large numbers of cable breaks happen globally each year through “accidental dragging of anchors or fishing trawler nets across them”. It singles out maritime and fishing organisations as key consultees.
The issue is live in UK waters. Shetland News reported last year that the owner of the Shefa-2 cable, which serves Shetland, had reached a compensation agreement with the insurers of a Scottish fishing vessel over damage in 2022. The owner said the cases it had handled related to “normal fishing activity, primarily in situations where AIS has been turned off, and not to hostile actions or state actors.” Sheila Keith of the Shetland Fishermen’s Association argued that “burying the cables is the only way for fishing vessels not running the risk of getting entangled”.
The government proposes statutory defences so that “legitimate and responsible action, taken in good faith, is not criminalised or discouraged”. These would apply only where all necessary precautions had been taken, and would not protect grossly negligent behaviour. Ministers are also asking whether operators should get a clearer route to recover repair costs through the civil courts, including better access to vessel-tracking data. The White Paper says any such measure must avoid placing “disproportionate burdens on legitimate maritime activity, particularly the fishing and merchant shipping sectors”.
Alongside the legislation, the government has backed a voluntary route. In June, digital economy minister Baroness Liz Lloyd formally endorsed new fishing liaison guidelines from the European Subsea Cables Association, drafted with the fishing industry. Mohammad Fahim Hashimi of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation said effective implementation “will play an important role in helping to avoid, minimise, and mitigate the impacts of linear subsea cables on fishing activities.”
How the line between an accident and gross negligence is drawn will be a key question for the fishing industry as the consultation runs. The government says responses will shape future legislation, but has not set a timetable for a bill.